What to spend our money on!

[raveydavey]

tilly wrote: raveydavey wrote: More here: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/f ... 6443857.jp Hi raveydavey This does not add up, Kath Pinnock says she was up at 6am and had meetings untill 5pm. I will bet the meetings dont start untill at least 9am. They also state that they have no spare time but Andrew Carter is member of 21 bodies and David Dagger belongs to 36, they say they give up their spare time free, what spare time?     It's a good point.My alarm goes off at just after 5am, I'm out of the house at just gone 6am and I got in tonight at just after 6.30pm (sometimes it's a little earlier, but not by much).I also don't have any spare time, but then neither am I coining it in to the tune of £50k+ a year.I really would love to be able to find myself a seat aboard the gravy train.

[Cardiarms]

For running a city the size of Leeds the 'pay' isn't much. Compare that to a company with a similar turn over and I'm sure the directors have a nicer return. I'm not defending them, they make the decisions, right or wrong, and we moan, bitch and accuse them of all sorts of incompetence. Ultimately we have the say wether they carry on. IS the alternative any better? Put up, stand up, run for election as an independent and jump on the gravy train.....or be honourable and turn down all the expenses, as a true volunteer. I don't think there'll ever be a satisfactory solution to the need for honourable volunteers having to exist in the real world of jobs and bills.

[Leodian]

Just in passing but I wonder how the expression "gravy train" was thought up?

[Cardiarms]

I have visions of some baronial hall, men in tweed, facial hair, banquet table, silverware with the gravy boat on an 0 scale trainset going around the table to the guests.

[anthonydna]

Gravy train - any easy and lucrative way means of obtaining moneyBy the beginning of the 20th century gravy was being used to mean money that had been easily acquired, or that was extra in some way, such as a bonus or tip, in the same way that gravy is an extra on top of the basics of a meal. It could also be used for money obtained through extortion or other illicit means. A gravy train was US railroad slang for an easy run where the pay was good. This was adopted into general speech in the 1920s.I am so clever since I found Google!

[Cardiarms]

You didn't even use quotation marks, you tart!

[raveydavey]

Cardiarms wrote: For running a city the size of Leeds the 'pay' isn't much. Compare that to a company with a similar turn over and I'm sure the directors have a nicer return. I'm not defending them, they make the decisions, right or wrong, and we moan, bitch and accuse them of all sorts of incompetence. Ultimately we have the say wether they carry on. IS the alternative any better? Put up, stand up, run for election as an independent and jump on the gravy train.....or be honourable and turn down all the expenses, as a true volunteer. I don't think there'll ever be a satisfactory solution to the need for honourable volunteers having to exist in the real world of jobs and bills. I know what you are saying, but they don't actually run Leeds do they? All the important decisions are actually made by the councils staff and the councillors just vote on, or implement them.And we all know how quick some councillors are to shift the blame onto these "faceless bureaucrats" the minute anything goes wrong (back to the Cross Gates gates again!).

[dogduke]

About 18 months ago,a guy was doing some door to door research on behalf of th council asking people of an older age group what sort of facilities they would like to see in new complexes for senior citizens.There was the option of attending a sort of seminar where you could,with similar people put forward your views.What would this have cost,the researcher was from a private firm in I think Norwich and travelled the country.The firm commissioned to run the seminar would require no doubt generous payment and I think the location was hired.About 15 members of the public attended and were rewardedwith Morrisons shopping vouchers to the value of £15.Council and consultancy staff also attended.Do we really need to spend money like this?Surely existing council staff,architects etc should be capable of doing such things without constantly hiring outsiders.

[raveydavey]

The hiring of consultants is another bugbear of mine.Essentially, it's backside covering of the highest degree. What happens is that someone decides that they want to change something / introduce something new. Consultants are then employed at a very pretty penny to engage in PR, questionnaires, surveys and the like to obtain the answer that everyone thinks this is a good idea. They then take several months (or years) to publish a report, which is then acted on.Then if everyone kicks off about the implementation of the changes / new ideas, the whole thing is brushed aside citing the consultation exercise where "everyone thought it was a good idea".

[raveydavey]

They're at it again...http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... .jp£21,000 spent on re-arranging offices after the Labour party retook control of the council in May.Everyone is blaming someone else, while us council tax payers pick up the tab.