Hitting the buffers

Hardly a day goes by without another round of supposed job losses brought about by the coalition government, so spare a thought for all those Labour Councillors soon to be made redundant as their Quango gravy trains hit the buffers.

Top of the list is Beatrice Fraenkel, widely suspected to have defected in order to hold on to her fat pay cheque as an NHS quango chairwoman. Rosie Cooper anyone?

Formerly chair of South Liverpool PCT, Bea saw that her lucrative number would be up when facing merger with the Central PCT, chaired by former Labour Leader Gideon Ben-Tovim.

How different a change of party makes though, and she was quickly found a new place, as Chairwoman of Merseycare - now soon to be abolished.

Gideon Ben-Tovim did so well out of chairing the new Quango, he decided to give up the hassle and low pay of being a councillor altogether - a decision he may now regret.

Last but not least though, spare a thought for the rat that jumped from one sinking ship to another.

Kirkdale Labour Councillor Malcolm Kennedy saw what was coming, and jumped from his job at the North West Development Agency quango, applying for a job at Merseycare instead.

Apparently he was interviewed for the job by one Beatrice Fraenkel, who by pure coincidence also happens to now be a Labour Councillor for Kirkdale. Well it takes two to quango!

But the best laid plans of mice and dogs often go astray, and now both will be on the look out for new employment.

Are there any Labour Councillors out there on a quango not yet abolished? Have you room for two slightly worn second hand councillors?

hanging his head?

I don't know what happened to Dude last week, perhaps he was hanging his head in shame after getting wind of Labour's plan to axe free leisure passes for the young and old.

As usual, the toadying Echo portray it as a coalition cut, even though most of the money comes from the Council, and Labour planned to cut off the government support next year anyway, with councils being left to take up the cost themselves.

Dude won't like me reminding you of the fanfare with which he greeted it's introduction by the Lib Dems of of free swimming and sports passes here, claiming that he believed in free swims for all.

So Dude, are you going to come out and condemn your new Labour masters, or are you just a hypocrite?