Daily Archives: 1 Nov 2023

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Planning applications validated in EDDC for week beginning 16 October.

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Step forward the real MP for Tiverton, Feniton and Honton, Richard Foord

On my way back from London, I chatted to staff at Tiverton Parkway about the news that ticket offices will remain open. The staff are very pleased that they will be able to continue serving the local community and helping people with their journeys. They deserved this win.

Exmothians why does you MP, Simon Jupp, spend so much time out of your constituency?

Why does Simon seek credit for saving ticket offices outside his constituency? What about Exmouth?

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Urgent works at crumbling Exmouth sea wall

Raises the question as to how committed the Government and “other Agencies” are to fund the long term protection for Sidmouth, given these new demands.

Owl has picked up rumours of backtracking.

In March EDDC reported that changes [improvements] to the scheme have been made possible by changes in the UK Government funding calculator, plus extra contributions from the town, District, County Councils, and other Government Agencies. However, there remains an estimated funding gap of £1.75m which is being underwritten by East Devon District Council (EDDC) to enable the project to progress these important works without delay. – Owl

Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com

Urgent action is being taken to protect Exmouth’s seawall ahead of the latest forecasted storm after large cracks have appeared. Problems were first detected a few weeks ago when cracks were visible in the seawall in front of Sideshore which is home to a watersports centre and Mickey’s Beach Bar & Restaurant.

A marine contractor was appointed to assess what work was required, but East Devon District Council (EDDC) has confirmed the cracks have increased following recent bad weather. With the Met Office having issued a severe amber weather warning for wind ahead of Storm Ciarán – which is set to unleash strong gusts and heavy rain across Devon – measures are being undertaken to try and reduce the impact of further weather damage.

The affected area has been fenced off and access to some sections of the beach could also be restricted. The yellow weather warnings for both wind and rain are set to remain active both tomorrow, November 1, and the following day, November 2.

Councillor Geoff Jung, EDDC’s portfolio holder for Coast, Country, and Environment, said: “Last weekend, large seas and high tides worsened the situation, with large cracks appearing in the promenade and revetment wall. With Storm Ciaran approaching, we are concerned about possible further damage and a failure of the seawall.

Exmouth’s crumbling seawall (Image: EDDC)

“To minimise the impact of the storm, large plant and heavy earth moving equipment arrived at the site from 10am yesterday, October 30. This machinery will move and compact sand, wrapped in geotextile to create a temporary barrier to lessen the impact of waves until the storm passes.

“Some geotextiles will be placed on top of the sand and held down with large concrete blocks too. While the operation is carried out, sections of the beach will need to be restricted.

Exmouth’s crumbling seawall (Image: EDDC)

“Following this, further assessments of the damage and the required repairs will be made, and medium and long-term solutions will be proposed. In the meantime, fencing has been erected to keep people off the affected section of the promenade. The situation will continue to be monitored and if necessary, the footway and cycle way may need to be temporarily closed.”

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Eight shocking revelations from Cummings and Cain at the Covid inquiry

These are the key things we learned on the most compelling and foul-mouthed day of the Covid inquiry so far:

Matthew Weaver www.theguardian.com 

  • Boris Johnson suggested ‘Covid is nature’s way of dealing with old people’

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, noted that Johnson favoured “older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life”. As the prime minister was resisting reimposing restrictions in December 2020, Vallance wrote: “He [Johnson] says his party ‘thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just nature’s way of dealing with old people – and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them’.”

  • Dominic Cummings said vulnerable people were ‘appallingly neglected’

The prime minister’s top adviser was asked about how much No 10 considered ethnic minority groups, domestic abuse victims and others in the run-up to imposing a national lockdown. Cummings said: “I would say that that entire question was almost entirely appallingly neglected by the entire planning system.” He added: “The Cabinet Office was essentially trying to block us creating a shielding plan.”

  • Cummings frequently called for the sacking of Matt Hancock and other cabinet ministers

In May 2020, he warned Johnson about the health secretary: “Hancock is unfit for this job. The incompetence, the constant lies, the obsession with media bullshit over doing his job. Still no fucking serious testing in care homes his uselessness is still killing God knows how many.” By August 2020 Cummings told Johnson he was creating the perception that he was “happy to have useless fuckpigs in charge”. He claimed Hancock was a “proven liar”. And he accused Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS in England, of “bullshitting”. He also said Gavin Williamson’s position as education secretary was not sustainable after a U-turn over teacher-assessed exam grades.

  • Cummings used misogynistic language to denigrate the deputy cabinet secretary, Helen MacNamara

He claimed MacNamara’s propriety and ethics teams “waste huge amounts of time”. In a WhatsApp message to the No 10 communications director, Lee Cain, he said he would “personally handcuff her and escort her from the building”. He added: “I don’t care how it is done but that woman must be out of our hair – we cannot keep dealing with this horrific meltdown of the British state while dodging stilettos from that cunt.” Cummings suggested moving MacNamara to the communities department where she could build “millions of lovely houses”. Cummings denied his comments were misogynistic. “I was much ruder about men,” he told the inquiry.

  • Johnson urged Cummings to end an ‘orgy of narcissism’

When Cummings was asked to leave Downing Street in November 2020, he complained to Johnson about briefings from those close to his then fiancee, Carrie Symonds. Johnson told him: “You speak of briefings from team Carrie. She hasn’t briefed anyone and my instructions to all were to shut the fuck up.” The PM also accused Cummings of briefing that Symonds was shaping lockdown policy. He said: “This is a totally disgusting orgy of narcissism by a government that should be solving a national crisis. We must end this.”

  • Cummings was unrepentant about his trip to Durham at the height of lockdown.

He confirmed the day of the Barnard Castle trip was his wife’s birthday. But he added: “The handling of it was a disaster and caused huge pain to a lot of people that I very much regret. But in terms of my actual actions in going north … I acted entirely reasonably and legally, and did not break any rules.” Cummings appeared to regret little about his time at No 10, apart from the language in his messages. His last words to the session were: “I should apologise for my terrible language.” WhatsApp messages shared with the inquiry showed Mr Johnson claiming that his adviser had never told him he had gone to Durham. In messages dated 19 July 2021, Johnson said: “Cummings a total and utter liar. He never told me he had gone to Durham during lockdown … He never told me. I then tried my very best to defend him.”

  • Cain tried to resist Sunak’s ‘eat out to help out’ scheme in the summer of 2020

The former director of communications at No 1o told the inquiry the then-chancellor’s scheme “made absolutely no sense whatsoever”. He said it undermined the government’s message about Covid. He told the inquiry: “What are we signalling to the public? … Go back out, get back to work, crowd yourself on to trains, go into restaurants and enjoy pizzas with friends and family – really build up that social mixing. Now, that is fine if you are intent on never having to do suppression measures again – but from all the evidence we are receiving … it was incredibly clear that we were going to have to do suppression measures again.”

  • Cain said it was a ‘huge blunder’ to ignore Marcus Rashford’s campaign on free school meals

He blamed the mistake on the lack of diversity in government. In his written evidence to the inquiry, Cain said: “I remember asking in the Cabinet room of 20 people, how many people had received free school meals. Nobody had – resulting in a policy and political blind spot. This was a huge blunder. The PM (to some degree understandably) said we needed to draw a line in the sand on public spending commitments, but this was clearly not the place to draw that line – something the PM was told by his senior team of 20 people.”

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Was Simon Jupp amongst MP alleged to have lobbied Johnson to prioritise economy over protecting elderly?

Evidence heard at the Covid inquiry yesterday hints at the pressure from the party on the PM.

“Vallance’s diary also recounts how then chief whip Mark Spencer told a cabinet meeting in December 2020 that “we should let the old people get it and protect others”. He said that Johnson then added: “A lot of my backbenchers think that and I must say I agree with them”.”

Then we have this evidence of Simon’s priorities, see: MP Simon Jupp goes full ostrich in the face of the Omicron wave when he was on record as tweeting ‘I don’t support Plan B. … I won’t vote for these measures.’

And we all know of his lobbying in support of the hospitality sector in general and support for “Dr Death’s” “eat out to help out”. – Owl

Boris Johnson favoured ‘older people accepting their fate’, Covid inquiry hears

Pippa Crerar www.theguardian.com (Extract0

Boris Johnson told senior advisers that the Covid virus was “just nature’s way of dealing with old people” and he was “no longer buying” the fact the NHS was overwhelmed during the pandemic, the pandemic inquiry has heard.

In a WhatsApp message sent to his top aides in October 2020, the former prime minister said he had been “slightly rocked” by Covid infection rates and suggested he was, as a result, unconvinced that hospitals were on the brink despite public warnings from NHS chiefs and frontline staff.

The former chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, in his diaries described a “bonkers set of exchanges” in a meeting from that August. He noted that Johnson appeared “obsessed with older people accepting their fate” and letting younger people get on with their lives during the pandemic.

Another note from Vallance, after a meeting in December 2020, hinted at the power wielded by the right of the Conservative party during the pandemic: “PM told he has been acting early and the public are with him (but his party is not).

“He says his party ‘thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just nature’s way of dealing with old people – and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them. A lot of moderate people think it is a bit too much.’”

Vallance’s diary also recounts how then chief whip Mark Spencer told a cabinet meeting in December 2020 that “we should let the old people get it and protect others”. He said that Johnson then added: “A lot of my backbenchers think that and I must say I agree with them”.

Johnson, despite Covid infection numbers going up at that time, told the meeting that he wanted to move to tier 3 restrictions instead.

The documents emerged during a bruising session of the Covid inquiry for the former prime minister, with the former senior aides Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings questioning in evidence his suitability for the role during the pandemic.

Cummings had previously, in July 2021, claimed that Johnson was not prepared to impose lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of Covid in autumn 2020 because “the people who are dying are essentially all over 80”…..