Wednesday 14 January 2009

Soaraway Corruption in The Village.

Those of you who are regulars on this site will know that Local corruption as well as National corruption and International corruption has been well within the range of The Merkin's beady eye.

We have spoken about Local corruption time and time and time again.

And again.

The denizens of this dark den had commented more often than not.

One person in the know had it right :

'Richard W. Symonds said...'

Send it to Private Eye as a matter of urgency.

If you want the email address, let me know.

'They' simply can't be allowed to get away with it.'



Me?

I would prefer to talk to the guys in The Sun.

Quicker and easier.

This one is a beauty (I am reliably informed after speaking to some of the councilors involved).

Let me set the scene.

A Council Leader wanting to do a favour for his friends - and constituents - in the big houses.

A couple of bin-men on very low wages.

Davids and Goliath, it seems.

I had seen how the Council's own Health and Safety guys had condemned some of the private and unadopted roads which the local workers had to travel on.

The Council Leader had dismissed this report and, through a subordinate, ordered the local workers to ignore Health and Safety law under pain of dismissal.

Unfortunately, the unions were not helpful in the matter and the workers were forced into a Dickensian treadmill in order to keep their jobs.

Still, enough is enough and, eventually, the following happened.

One council employee
- someone who had actually featured in a story in The Sun about local corruption - ordered the bin men, one day, to repair this private road, bypassing the council's own Roads Dept (Shhhhhh, do it on the quiet, so there is no billing to audit).

Obviously, it's not their job any more than an order from The Leader to dig The Merkin's private garden of love would be.

Quite rightly, they refused to carry out this work
- on a road which is not even adopted by the Council - and were promptly put 'on a charge'.

A 'disciplinary hearing' took place last week and, in part, collapsed due to council incompetence in even carrying out the correct procedure.

Not to be deterred, the council immediately instituted disciplinary proceedings against almost the whole department - for having spoken to The Sun.

In addition, they also re-instituted the original disciplinary investigation against The Refusniks who had refused to carry out illegal and unsafe work.

Life in The Village seems to depend on 'strange handshakes' to be tolerable.

Rest assured, your Super Soaraway Merkin will never allow dignity to be superseded by the demands of the domino team, the bowls team or even the T.A.


It is often said that 'we get the politicians we pay for'.

Who, in This Village would disagree with that.

Not many.

I am sure there is more to follow, but we don't agree that The Council Leader should have a private Fiefdom whereby he can order the local workers to carry out work to support his political ambitions.

.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I miss Patrick.
He knew the village for what it was.

Merkin said...

Well said, Mister Magoo.

Anonymous said...

http://tinyurl.com/7utwjj


Is that the story?


It's a minor detail in the context of world events.

Why bother with it?

Phil said...

Uh.. Mr Anonymous, although local political corruption may be below your world affairs thresh-hold, it is from whence the big players of tomorrow come. If you're not interested in stopping corruption when it starts, don't try to get involved when its big and on the world stage. I'm surprised you even bothered to write something about a issue so far below you.

Merkin said...

I am not sure I agree with you totally, Pheeeew, there is always a place for corruption in the best possible taste.

Reminded of Sister Concepta who is stopped for the umpteenth time by the local policeman.

He takes his dick out and she says 'surely, not the breathyliser again'.

As for Anon, if you can't reach the dachshund don't try and reach for the keyboard, because that is the story.