Perks & expenses

J(F)K lets slip on the lavish lifestyle of Labour Ministers

Thanks to Ethical Bill for that one!

Bye Bye Zak

Regular readers may recall me mentioning my pen friend Zac who has been living for the past 7½ years at the Dogs Trust centre on Merseyside.

I have always enjoyed reading his letters and I think he has enjoyed hearing about my political adventures, after all, all nice dogs are Liberal Democrats at heart.

But I have had his latest letter, which you can read here, telling me that he has finally found a family who can look after him.

I am so pleased for him, but I will miss our regular letters. Perhaps now he has a home he will be able to keep in touch through this blog.

Zac is so lovely, handsome, smart, intelligent, charming and gentle, in fact I want to be Zac, but will settle for being pleased to have become his friend.

I look forward to finding out who will be my new pen friend, and of course I will let you know all about him or her.

If you can find it in your heart to sponsor one of Zac's friends, you can find out more here.

"Gratuitously offensive"

My blogging nemesis The Bulldog has been labelled by Labour's own standards board as "Gratuitously Offensive" after a two year investigation into her behaviour.

She was condemned for her abusive behaviour after publicly declaring “all Lib Dems are ‘bastards" and (on another occasion) ranted that both the Liberal and Liberal Democrats group were “deceitful, conniving, opportunistic bastards”.

The Standards Board said, “The freedom of speech arguments that have been raised in the past by members simply do not attach themselves to statements of this nature.” But claim that they can take no action because the comments where not specifically aimed at individuals!

Is this not the same Labour councillor who took the moral high ground on councillors lack of respect to each other? Is she not also Labour's spokesperson for Ethical Behaviour? If she refuses to resign from that position now then surely she should be sacked?

The normally verbacious Louise declined to comment to either the Daily Post or Liverpool Echo!

I think she deserves to have her nose rubbed in it.


UPDATE

Louise has done the decent thing and resigned! As you will notice from the comments, some credit me with that result, while others quite vociferously disagree with that assessment.

Thanks to one Labour member who alerted me to the Echo editorial which I missed on Friday, which described Louise as toilet-mouthed, childish, crude, and demeaning to all who vote or follow politics. Ouch!

Making a splash

A funny story passed on to me from one of my regular correspondents.

Last Wednesday saw the official opening of a school swimming pool, Gatecrashed by Timbo the Terrier who claimed to be the official representative of Jane Kennedy. (Never mind that she isn't currently the MP for that area, and never will be).

My bulldog nemesis was on hand to take Timbo's poolside publicity photos, but in the end it was the Bulldog who made a splash.

Taking a step back into the the showers to get a better shot, her arm caught the tap and turned it on. It is not known if she shook herself dry next to innocent bystanders - I know I would have done!

She's not the first Labour politician to get into hot water over a pool.

Nick (fortnightly bins) Small attacked Liverpool's new Olympic pool as being poor value for money, begging the question, will a Labour Council close it down?

Then again, this is from the same Labour Councillor who lobbied on behalf of Tesco to let them build on sports pitches! Anyone would think he has something against exercise.

Police Pledge

I'm told that Horse Minister Jane Kennedy has been spotted around the Wavertree, area delivering a leaflet no less.

Unfortunately the Labour leaflet entitles "Police Pledge", which features a big picture of her with a policeman, forgets to explain exactly what this pledge is.

Perhaps this refers to the well known brand of furniture polish, which Labour are planning to issue to the local constabulary, to enable them to polish their truncheons!

Nay, stop tittering Missus! There is a filthy minded lot reading this blog.

While having bobbies on parade with truncheons gleaming might make Jane happy, I'm sure the rest of us would prefer them to have proper equipment. So why do the police have to ask Lib Dem councillors for spare change to provide them with bicycles?

There is a pledge worth making. I hear nostalgic stories from more senior dogs than me of the pleasure of chasing a policeman (or postman) on a bicycle. Seems like great fun and would be an excellent institution to bring back.