Another swing, another roundabout

Hot on the heels of the news that our Police and Crime Commissioner is considering appointing an old pal as her deputy as reported here:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/06/06/swamp-watch-crime-czar-set-to-appoint-old-tory-council-colleague-as-deputy-commissioner/

comes news that her erstwhile Chief Executive Officer Andrew White has decamped to Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire Police have appointed current CEO for the Police and Crime Commissioner in Devon and Cornwall Andrew White, as their new Assistant Chief Officer.

http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2017/06/lincolnshire-police-appoint-andrew-white-new-assistant-chief-officer/

He was appointed by Lincolnshire Chief Constable Bill Skelly – who was formerly – Deputy Chief Constable of – wait for it – Devon and Cornwall!

“Experts unimpressed by East Devon MP Hugo Swire’s claims he was victim of Twitter bullies”

Politics experts quizzed by DevonLive had little sympathy for East Devon MP Hugo Swire’s complaints that he had been bullied on Twitter, with one accusing him of being a “sore winner”. As reported yesterday, Mr Swire said supporters of Independent rival Claire Wright had “lied to and libelled” him on the social media network.

Ms Wright lost her battle to claim the East Devon seat against the Tory incumbent, but was by far the most successful independent candidate in the country in Thursday’s poll.

In a panel interview the Exeter University politics expert Professor Jason Reifler said that robust discourse was part of the British political system.

“Politics is not for the faint-hearted, and if you are going to get into it, particularly in the national system, you have to weather some attacks,” he said.

“It’s never good to go after someone’s family or say something about a candidate but those things do happen. Far more distressing are attacks on the democratic process. People don’t like sore losers, they also don’t like sore winners, this would be a good opportunity to show the stereotypical British stiff upper lip.”

Former Lib Dem Devon County Councillor Des Hannon said: “I think attacks on people’s families are absolutely out whichever way they go, that’s just not acceptable but anything that’s at Hugo, frankly he pretty much incited himself by his attacks on Claire Wright and also as part of an absolutely entrenched establishment in East Devon which has assumed it has a right to rule permanently there with no flexibility and Claire is feeding off that – the more he protests this the better it will be for her.”

http://www.devonlive.com/east-devon-mp-hugo-swire/story-30382446-detail/story.html

Vile person?

“A Sidmothian satirist is offering East Devon residents the chance to ‘meet your MP’ – in the form a cabbage sporting a blue ribbon.

Alex Ritchie claimed that the vegetable’s ‘spokesman’, Sir Hugo Swire, was unavailable so he was sat with it on Sidmouth’s Esplanade.

The Conservative MP was re-elected for a fifth term with a majority of more than 8,000 votes.”

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/sidmouth-satirist-s-fresh-take-on-election-result-1-5055711

Just to clarify: Owl has never known, known of or met or corresponded with Mr Richie.

Will Mr Swire be commentating on this legitimate protest?

“Ordinary people” – millionaires!

“This morning’s BBC Breakfast show contained an absolutely astounding series of interviews about the the Tories’ hated Dementia Tax policy and the state of the NHS.

What the BBC failed to mention during the course of both sections is that their supposedly ‘impartial’ voice of concern for the NHS (a man who the BBC described as ‘loving the NHS’ was actually an ex-Tory Councillor, millionaire property mogul who had worked for a PRIVATE healthcare company for 33 years.

The ex-Tory Councillor was interviewed both as a seemingly ordinary member of the public at 07:25, saying the council had been “phenomenal” when his wife was diagnosed with dementia and needed help, and just an hour later he returned in a pre-recorded segment debating the future of the NHS with a junior Dr who was distraught at the destruction caused the Tory cuts.

The first discussion was about Theresa May’s disgusting dementia tax. The interview starts with another member of the public expressing deep concerns about the cap on social care, saying she is worried that her children will be left with nothing if her or her husband have to go into care.

The conversation then moves on to a man who is referred to just as “Gordon”, and he speaks about his experience of funding care for his wife who he says was diagnosed with dementia in 2009.

The conversation then moves on to a man who is referred to just as “Gordon”, and he speaks about his experience of funding care for his wife who he says was diagnosed with dementia in 2009.

Gordon Maclellan BBCHe says that he found the local council to be “phenomenal” in offering him and his wife support to help fund her care. He goes on to say that he would certainly benefit from the Tories proposals to raise the cap on care costs from £23,000 to £100,000.

Just over an hour later on the same programme, we encounter another interview with the same man, or to give him his full title Dr Gordon Maclellan, who introduces himself as being recently retired.

This time he’s here to talk about the NHS crisis and discuss the best way to fix it with a 33-year-old junior doctor.

Breakfast describes Maclellan as being somebody who “loves the NHS”, and the purpose of the segment is to help people decide which party is best suited to cure the NHS crisis.

Throughout the interview, Gordon consistently uses classic Tory talking points and the usual ridiculous defenses of their carving up of the NHS, at one point he defends the Tories cuts by saying:

“people died in my day too”

So, who is this Gordon Maclellan? And why does he always seem to keen to defend the Tories? …

… Dr Gordon MacLellan worked as a Private Orthopaedic consultant for the Nuffield Health Brentwood Hospital for 33 years.”

http://www.devonlive.com/five-sets-of-roadworks-to-affect-major-devon-roads-next-week/story-30381759-detail/story.html