Politics in the Rother Valley

Well it seems that my conclusion that Kevin Barron was never going to say anything at all about his expenses in the hope that people would get bored asking and just sort of forget about them was somewhat flawed – for it seems the Rotherham Advertiser has managed to get some sort of response from him after publishing their story ‘Sack Them All’ about MPs expenses in this weeks issue.

Kevin’s office still haven’t got back to me as a mere constituent, despite assurances that they would, so perhaps I should just stick to taking things to the press in future.

With regard to his website claims, Kevin said

The website kevinbarronmp.com was only registered this year and is in the process of being constructed and populated. Previous domains were registered but I did not follow the work through as over the last 12 months I have other things on…

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Kevin Barron – A Receipt!

Rotherham Politics received this, rather rare beast indeed, a receipt, used by Kevin Barron to claim money from Parliamentary Allowances. This interesting document was sent us by an anonymous RikiLeaks correspondent. It perhaps, repays some study?:

Barron expenses claim .doc

Barron expenses claim .pdf

At first glance it is apparent that there has been an over enthusiastic use of the redaction tool, resulting in the publication of a document, in the public record, that cannot be verified by someone motivated so to do, as in the case of our informant who also poses some questions of their own to Kevin Barron:

“Dear Kevin Barron,
In the interest of transparency and honesty, the constituents of Rother Valley ask Kevin Barron MP to identify this company, the business address or contact details. Since he claimed expenses of nearly a thousand pounds of our money, it should be a small thing
to ask. If the company exists, it should be a simple case of publishing their details. We look forward to your reply.

A curious citizen.”

2012 – The full top ten

2012 a record breaking year in more ways than one:

Joyce Thacker’s priority? Find the whistle blower!		5,645
The Times – In full – heads must surely roll!		2,648
Rotherham By-Election 2012		1,828
The Uncomfortable Truth About Jahangir Akhtar!		1,444
Rotherham By-Election Daily News Digest – 13th Nov		1,320
Rotherham By-Election – Polling Stations now closed!		1,266
The Shaun Wright Files		1,227
The Times – Files expose hidden child sex scandal		1,202
Vote Dave Smith – Independent Candidate Dinnington Ward		1,161
Rotherham By-Election – Labour Blind Panic Edition		1,052

Total hits 2012 updated 23:59 31st December 2012: 218,958

2012 A year of elections? Local elections in May, PCC election, mid November and the Rotherham by-election at the end of November, contributed to a very busy year and a distinct bias towards those associated posts.

The real surprises were in the number one and four position. The Joyce Thacker story went viral after the UKIP fostering scandal broke, towards the end of the by-election campaign and the resultant international interest. The second surprise is indicative of interest in the Deputy Leader and his antics from the now infamous walkout at the selection meeting to the present. A much clearer picture of Jahangir Akhtar is emerging.

The NHS unsafe in their hands!

Does anyone in Rotherham remember this airbrushed poster of David Cameron?

Probably 20kg lighter then, Cameron in the run up to the 2010 general election frequently pledged that under a Conservative government there would be no more-top down re-originations of the NHS and the NHS would be safe with the Tories, it was all part of an attempt to detoxify the Tory brand.

Well guess what?

Cameron weeks into the Coalition announced the most expensive top down re-orgnisations of the NHS.

Care UK a private sector healthcare company that provides Rotherham`s out of hours GP cover and runs the Walk-in-Centre on a for profit basis made a £21,000 donation to the personal office of the former health secretary Andrew Lansley, no conflict of interest there then.

Prior to the autumn statetement (2012) Andrew Dilnot chair of the UK Statistics Authority concluded that spending on the NHS is actually lower now than it was in 2010, so yet another broken pledge by Flashman and the nasty party.

No doubt the Tories and the Daily Heil will blame PFI deals for the financial carnage in the NHS, remind me who introduced the concept of PFI?

Oh yes, it was the Tory party.

The Rotherham NHS Trust is out to consultation on making over 700 staff redundant, they will have to make £40 million pounds in savings and the NHS watchdog Monitor has placed the Trust on red alert relating to its financial problems.

And what of the chair of the RMBC health scrutiny committee Cllr Ken Wyatt, a man with so many public sector income streams that he cannot find the time to get to grips with the financial crisis about to hit the NHS in Rotherham.

If this wasn’t bad enough we have food banks operating in Rotherham, in the final PMQs before Christmas when challenged by Miliband about the six fold increase in the number of people accessing food banks, Cameron with his very odd splayed fingers gesture and Flashman arrogance said it was evidence of the big society working, did you see the look on Clegg`s face, a picture?

RMBC are providing an interest free loan to a local credit union, hopefully this will prevent the poorest members of society falling foul of aggressive loan sharks, seen the TV adverts for the loan company Wonga?

Interest rates of 2,000% on short terms loans, Wonga has made donations to the Tory party, no wonder Flashman is keen to hit the poor.

Just goes to prove the nasty party is back in town

So as the New Year looms remember the words of Neil Kinnock

I warn you not to be ordinary

I warn you not to be young

I warn you not to fall ill

I warn you not to get old.

Stay healthy, because the Town’s NHS will be in tatters thanks to Cameron

Aneurin Bevan.

PAK Supermarket – What does it sell?

Numerous commenters, in both private communications with Rothpol and in comments left on Rotherham Politics, have defended the sole involvement of the PAK Supermarket on the basis that it sold neither cigarettes nor alcohol, without benefit of evidence for their assertions.

Rothpol was alerted to the fact that this claim may not be the full truth, by an observant private correspondent, to whom Rothpol is grateful.

Just checked and although they do not sell alcohol, they do in fact sell cigarettes and tobacco. So this claim turns out only to be 50% right.

.

Cllr Husssain does know the people at PAK very well!

Hi Riki,
Is this Cllr Mahroof Hussain featured in this PAK supermarket
Rotherham Youtube video? 10 seconds in? Does he know the owner?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBkcG7PGg1I

So Cllr Husssain does know the people at PAK very well!

http://www.mahroofhussain.org/news/133-rotherham-councillor-shows-
support-to-rotherham-hospital-charity

Surely questions have to be asked about this scheme and who
benefits from ratepayers money? As well as why PAK was chosen and
what part Cllr Hussain has played in PAK gaining the sole
participatory rights?

A curious citizen.

Mr Michael Sylvester – Formal Complaint

Last first as usual:

Dear Cllr Jahangir Akhtar, Deputy Leader RMBC,

I am forwarding to you an e-mail complaint which I have just sent to Richard Waller, and which has just been returned back to me unopened via RMBC’s e-mail system.

I do not know whether my e-mail address is blocked by RMBC so I am therefore turning to you in the sincere hope that you can channel my complaint into the appropriate department within RMBC.

Yours Sincerely,
Donald H. Buxton

Dear richard.waller@rotherham.gov.uk

I have obtained your contact details via this RMBC weblink – http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/info/200033/councillors_democracy_and_elections/1104/standards_committee/3
and am attaching for your information an e-mail complaint which I sent on 17 December to the person who I believe is the Clerk to Thrybergh Parish Council.

Since that time I have had neither an acknowledgement, response or detailed reply to my concern and I therefore now wish to raise this matter as a Formal Complaint with Rotherham MBC, who I believe have the responsibility for enforcing standards of behaviour among Parish Councils and Parish Councillors.

I believe that the attached information is sufficient for you to begin the appropriate process but if you do require any further information then please don’t hesitate to contact me by the above e-mail address.

Yours Sincerely,
Donald H. Buxton

Mahroof Hussain and the Pak Supermarket scheme

Hi Riki,
interestingly Mahroof Hussain has also tweeted in reference to Pak
Supermarket scheme.

http://mobile.twitter.com/mahroofhussain

Rotherham fund supporting vulnerable families who are struggling to
provide food for families at Xmas is due to be approved at cabinet
today.

It will be interesting to view the minutes of this meeting. Qs Who
proposed the scheme? Who suggested PAK Supermarket Rotherham be the
sole beneficiary and why this supermarket was chosen? Where other
stores asked to participate?

A curious citizen.

RMBC Official take: Rotherham Launches Festive Food Fund

Mahroof Hussain Statement: Festive Food Fund for Struggling Families

Generosity to whom?

Hi Riki,
As I was reading the BBC Southyorkshire web page a wonderful story
lept from my screen. RMBC in an extraordinary act of kindness as
loaned the Credit Union 80,000 pounds of ratepayers money to be
made available to families and people in crisis by way of food
parcels. Socialism in action I thought. What an excellent scheme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-20783826

Then I read on…the vouchers are only redeemable at PAK
Supermarket at Wellgate. Why only PAK I wondered? My curiosity got
the better of me and so I searched Companies House for information
on PAK Supermarket which will be the recipient of tens of thousands
of Rotherham ratepayer’s pounds…a guarenteed windfall. To my
surprise I found that PAK had recently hit hard times:

http://companycheck.co.uk/company/07477308

Why then I wonder would RMBC present this ailing company with such
a windfall? A further search turned up some more interesting facts;

http://www.duedil.com/company/07477308/pak-supermarket-rotherham-
limited

‘Pak Supermarket (Rotherham) Limited was founded on 23 Dec 2010 and
has its registered office in South Yorkshire. The organisation’s
status is ‘Non-trading’, and they have 1 associated directors – all
of which are current. Mohammed Ayiaz is the Pak Supermarket
(Rotherham) Limited’s sole shareholder with a total of 1.00 shares.
The company has 1 subsidiary.’

Who are the directors? Who is Mr Ayiaz? Who decided to set up a
scheme with PAC Supermarket Rotherham being the only beneficiary in
terms of rate payers cash being exchanged for goods whereby a
private company would profit financially? Is this a council bailout
by the back door? There are currently more questions than answers.

Then I noticed Ms Champion was singing from the twitter tops about
the scheme (even exagerating the 80,000 claiming it was 100,0000).

http://mobile.twitter.com/SarahChampionMP?p=s

Something doesn’t seem right here! More probing to follow! Is there
anyone who can shed light on Mr Ayiaz or his family connections in
Rotherham or Birmingham? I am guessing he knows someone with links
to the council since his business was chosen specifically. The
reason why is unclear for now!

A curious citizen.