Curly's Corner Shop, the blog!

Younger brother leapfrogs over ambitious elder sibling

Full story here, (or is it here?)

Sorry folks, it’s the only piece of news to have excited me in the past few weeks, I guess it could get more exciting if Miliband Major makes a momentous decision which might lead to South Shields looking for a Member of Parliament with stronger local roots!

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Deficit denier continues with give away mentality.

Kelly Kane and her partner Dave Hall are in an unfortunate position, unlucky, but not catastrophic, with a bit of guile, common sense, and intelligent planning they could manage to do what thousands of Sanddancers have managed to do over the last century, and that is to nurture and bring up children – even when faced with the upheaval of having to negotiate stairs!

South Shields has had a good 50% of its land covered by terraced properties for at least the last hundred years, thousands of families have given birth to children, and brought them up as model citizens in upper flats, and even in more modern times hundreds continue to raise families in communal blocks and maisonettes, just what is it that makes this couple think that the job is that difficult? What is it that gives them some sort of feeling of entitlement to better conditions that they have not worked for?

For those others amongst us, we managed to squeeze past prams stored behind front doors at the bottom of stairs, others resorted to a trip to Halfords, B&Q, or even one of the multitude of Pound shops in King Street to procure a bicycle lock and pressed it into service to immobilise a pram in a communal block! Yet this couple feel they ought to be rehoused on the grounds that they may not be able to manage a flight of stairs with a baby – get real folks, this is not a hardship! The unborn child is at no greater risk than any other of the last four generations in this town.

However, we are all at risk from stupid politicians who don’t have the “bottle” when courting popularity, to tell their constituents the plain hard faced truth that their plight is neither unusual or exceptional, and that they have no automatic right to expect the council tax payer to help out by finding a new home for them. I refer to the “geeky” David Miliband:

“I would be grateful if you would look at it again, as I know Ms Kane has concerns about her safety and that of the baby if she has to manage the stairs on her own.

“I know the council is limited in what homes they can offer due to the criteria, but I would be grateful if you could look at this case again – to ensure that Ms Kane and her child have a decent quality of life.

“Is it possible for Kelly and David to be referred to other housing associations in South Tyneside by South Tyneside Homes?”

My guess is that Miliband has never done a Matthew Parris and lived in an upper flat, nor has he appreciated the fact that thousands of South Shields’ children have been brought up safely in such conditions, the former Foreign Secretary is still stuck in the Socialist dreamland where tax payer’s cash never dries up and we can continue to keep giving and giving even when the pot of cash runs dry. Despite having been a major player in a government that has saddled our grandchildren with £1.5 trillion of debt he seems incapable of realising the consequences of his thought processes, he seems to be in “deficit denial” and still believes it is possible for people to benefit where there is little entitlement to publicly funded support. Miliband needs to show more responsibility, particularly as he wishes to become the Leader of the Opposition, after thirteen years of waste a little more of the same is not what the doctor has ordered to help the rest of us!

Any South Tyneside politician or council officer who acquiesces to Miliband’s ill considered gesture ought to have their bare backsides publicly flogged under the Old Town Hall in South Shields Market Place, they should be used to make an example, and if this gesture itself was to bear a public expense then I’d gladly contribute a fiver towards the cost, and I bet a few hundred others would join me to witness the event. To continue to throw public resources at non existant “problems” should be viewed as a crime, and one which adds to the risks of the unborn children of the next two generations as they struggle to cope with the economic mess left behind by the architects of Labour’s follies.

As for Kelly and David, they need to be firmly told that there is no inherent risk in bringing up children in a block of flats, they should take a walk around Slake Terrace, Cleveland Court, Anderson Street, etc. and talk to a few other families to find out how it is done!

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Which South Tyneside councillor did we waste the money on?

Yes, I know I don’t find a great deal of time to pop in here these days to offer my thoughts, I guess it needs something of significance before I am stirred into action.

These emails which I received yesterday (see below) got me thinking – just how much cash have we spent in South Tyneside setting up e-government, equipping our elected councillors with a suite of PCs in South Shields Town Hall, another to take home, and even Blackberries so they can “stay in touch” when on the move? How much did we spend on training and advice for elected members?

Over the course of the years, I believe that I have written some things that I have been passionate about, issues which have stirred emotions and stirred others to take some action, amongst those issues some have sparked bigger reactions in the wider community and some may have had a little influence over the decisions which our council eventually took (certainly once TV cameras got involved). I refer to the threats to develop Temple Park, the cleaning up of Trow Quarry, and the cleaning and re-opening of Readhead’s Landing, with all of these topics I regularly emailed each and every one of our elected councillors, giving my views and seeking theirs in return.

Take a look at the screen grabs of these which arrived in my email in-box yesterday and try to figure out which Councillor cherished my emails so much that they held on to them for about six years, without even reading a single one! You will find the date that I sent them on the penultimate lines.

How well stuffed was their in-box, and how much money did the tax payers of South Tyneside waste on this councillor?

I won’t cause embarrassment by naming names, but just think on the next time you accuse South Tyneside Council of dragging it’s feet and taking years to make decisions – that there is probably a very good reason for it.

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