Several people are reporting that boards supporting Independent Parliamentary candidate Claire Wright are being torn down and taken away during the night, particularly in Newton Poppleford.
This is criminal theft, criminal damage and, perhaps, also trespass.
Board owners might wish to train their webcams on their boards – just to see which raptors alight on them, of course.
Someone very, very frit of the lady – wonder who?
“The procurement of an APMS contract to a private provider – after the closure of a GMS practice – meant costs to the NHS increased by 64%, shows figures obtained by LMC leaders.
Partners at the St Lawrence Medical Practice in Braintree, Essex, were forced to hand their GMS contract back after they were unable to recruit more partners, and NHS England replaced it with an APMS contract run by Virgin Care.
An FOI to NHS England, revealed by Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer from Hertfordshire LMC at the LMCs Conference in Edinburgh, showed that the first year of the Virgin Care practice contract cost 64% moreq than the final 12 months of St Lawrence’s GMS contract.
The FOI, seen by Pulse, also revealed that the Sutherland Lodge practice in Essex was replaced by a Virgin Care APMS practice that increased costs by 16%. Sutherland Lodge had earlier been awarded an ‘outstanding’ rating by the CQC but was forced to close due to the PMS reviews.
The figures were announced as part of a debate on NHS England’s decision to put all new GP practices contracts out to tender under APMS – first revealed by Pulse.
Local leaders voted in favour of the motion, which called on the GPC to take legal advice to ‘challenge the notion that only APMS contracts may be awarded when procuring general medical services’.
Dr Bramall-Stainer told delegates: ‘There was the case of the “Outstanding” Essex practice that was forced into handing back their contract last year due to the enforced PMS contract review.
‘This undermines the whole ethos of long-time continuity of care.’
The FOI response from NHS England said: ‘The budget for the current APMS contract (which commenced on 1 June 2016) will exceed the actual expenditure within the last twelve months of the former GMS partnership (1 June 2014 to 31 May 2015).
‘Following the procurements of the current APMS contracts for the St Lawrence and Sutherland Lodge practices we can confirm that the procurements resulted in the following approximate percentage increases in contract value rates compared to the GMS and PMS arrangements previously in place; St Lawrence: 64%; Sutherland Lodge: 16%.’
Pulse revealed earlier this year that more practices closed in 2016 than ever before.
Virgin Care was approached for comment, but did not respond in time for publication.”
Unlike East Devon hustings, which Hugo Swire refuses to attend, Neil Parish will be attending.
“The public will be able to grill the four candidates for the Tiverton and Honiton Parliamentary seat at a Question Time event.
The session, organised by Honiton Senior Voice, will be held at the town’s methodist hall on Thursday, May 25.
Conservative’s Neil Parish, Labour’s Caroline Kolek, Green Party’s Gill Westcott and Liberal Democrat Matthew Wilson are all vying for the coveted seat.
Senior Voice chair June Brown said: “This is probably the only opportunity Honiton people will have to hear direct from the four parties contesting locally and to question them in a single event. We are hoping for a good turnout.
“The event will again be impartially chaired by Roger Trapani, chair of Seaton Senior Voice, to whom we are very grateful.”
Doors open at the methodist hall at 1.30pm for 2pm start.
Refreshments are available and donations to cover the cost of the event are welcome.”
http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/question-time-on-in-honiton-for-election-candidates-1-5025462
“Bring up the voters! Novelist Hilary Mantel backs Claire Wright as “a candidate with a clear vision for our unique part of England.”
Novelist and East Devon resident Hilary Mantel has spoken out in favour of East Devon Independent parliamentary candidate Claire Wright.
Ms Mantel who has just returned from a trip to the US backed Ms Wright in the 2015 election in a column in a national magazine. Today she has issued a statement of her own in favour of Claire:
“Claire Wright is the candidate who will speak up for Devon East – she stands as an Independent, and that means she is free to speak with a strong and genuine voice on issues that affect all of us in our everyday lives. She is local, energetic, knowledgeable, and has a real chance of going to Westminster – if local people will come out and support her on election day. If you want a different kind of politics, do something different to get it. Don’t waste your vote, give it to Claire Wright: trust a candidate with a clear vision for our unique part of England.”
Responding to this endorsement Ms Wright says:
“It has been a completely amazing week for my campaign, but this news tops it all for me. Hilary Mantel is a hugely respected and really talented writer. I am so proud that she is backing me in such a public way. I am sure she knows what it means to me!”
This is the latest in a series of boosts for Ms Wright’s campaign: on Wednesday, the leading tactical voting website Tactical2017 endorsed her as the best East Devon candidate to defeat the Conservatives. Claire is currently the only Independent candidate in the country to be endorsed by Tactical2017.
Earlier in the week bookies William Hill confirmed Ms Wright as the official opposition in East Devon with odds of 9/2 and the only credible alternative to the Conservatives. And earlier this month Exeter City player David Wheeler also invited followers of his newspaper column to “rally behind the Independent Claire Wright” in East Devon.
Event Diary
Sunday 21st May, 7pm Q&A with Claire at the Grapevine Brewhouse, 2 Victoria Road, Exmouth, EX8 1 DL, 7pm.
Friday 26th May Cranbrook Hustings – details to be confirmed.
Tuesday 30th May 7.30pm, Exmouth Hustings, Holy Trinity Church, 6A Bicton Place, Exmouth, EX8 2SU”
Hustings are booked in so far at:
Friday 26 May – Cranbrook (details to be confirmed)
Tuesday 30 May, 7.30pm – Exmouth – Holy Trinity Church
Swire says he will do his own hustings alone, though how you can “hust” on your own is a bit of a puzzle! We like to see ALL our candidates answering the same questions at the same time at hustings. Alas, this will not happen in East Devon. Claire Wright and other candidates would rather it did.
Neil Parish (Con) IS attending hustings in his Tiverton and Honiton constituency.
Owl’s question: why is EDDC involved in running a theatre at all? Perhaps it’s because Leader Diviani has a soft spot for them as he worked in the entertainment industry in the 1970s and 1980s!
“A debate over pay-and-display parking charges at a Sidmouth venue spilled over into claims key parties were not consulted and that officers repeatedly go over councillors’ heads.
East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) scrutiny committee raised concerns the proposed regime – aimed at raising up to £30,000 a year for the Manor Pavilion – could deter users and be ‘counter-productive’.
Members were told they could not ‘call in’ the cabinet’s decision to approve the new charges, but they could make recommendations on the implementation.
Graham Liverton, an honorary alderman of the council, said: “I do appreciate the efforts you’ve gone to get this on the agenda, but I fear it won’t make a jot of difference.”
He chairs the Manor Pavilion steering committee, but said he had received a letter from an officer saying it is ‘no longer required’.
The meeting heard that, while members can still meet, it will no longer be administered by an EDDC officer.
Mr Liverton said: “In other words, because we disagreed with the decision [to introduce charges], we get the sack. I think that’s a great shame. The whole thing, from beginning to end, has been disgraceful.”
He said many key users had to learn of the proposals in the Herald, adding: “The communication from EDDC has been so abysmal – it’s beyond belief.”
Officers said Sidmouth’s ward members had been told about the proposals, but admitted the town council was not consulted.
Councillor Maddy Chapman raised concerns no vote was taken about the future of the steering committee, adding: “Too many decisions are being made in this council that aren’t going through the proper channels. “Any amount of money won’t be enough to put new chairs in that theatre. It’s not going to work.”
Cllr Cathy Gardner added: “This is another example of how the council seems to be acting in a heavy-handed way of ‘we know best’. There are ways to make this usable for people who actually use the Manor Pavilion.
“If it means people don’t use the car park, that’s counterproductive. I can’t see how much money it will raise – it could have a big negative impact.”
The income from the car park’s 21 spaces will be ring-fenced for investment in the theatre and arts centre.
Theatre manager Graham Whitlock said its 277 chairs ‘will not last’ another five years and a previous quote said they would cost £150 apiece to recondition.
EDDC also hopes to bring in an online ticketing system he said will cost £10,000 a year.
“By charging for the car park we can continue to develop for the future,” added Mr Whitlock.
Scrutiny committee members backed EDDC’s plan to extend the maximum parking time from three to four hours, and called for the charges to end at 6pm, not 8pm as proposed.
They also said consulting users, ward councillors and Sidmouth Town Council should be an important part of the process.
http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/claim-too-many-decisions-at-eddc-made-by-officers-1-5024478
REGISTER TO VOTE BY 22 MAY IN GENERAL ELECTION
Anyone planning to vote in June’s general election who isn’t yet on the electoral roll has only until Monday 22 May to register.
You’re eligible to vote in the 8 June general election if:
You’re a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen aged 18 or over who is currently living in the UK.
You’re a British citizen aged 18 or over who’s been registered to vote in the UK in the past 15 years.
However, simply being eligible to vote doesn’t mean you’re actually able to you have to register by
11.59pm on
Monday 22 May 2017
otherwise you won’t be able to vote in the general election.
In addition to giving you a vote, registering boosts your chances of getting credit, as lenders can use the electoral roll to check out potential borrowers. See our Credit Scores guide for more on this and other tips on how to boost your score.
How to register
Check if you’re registered to vote by getting in touch with your local authority. Enter your postcode on Gov.uk to find your local electoral registration office and contact it directly.
If you were registered for last June’s Brexit referendum or are for the local elections on Thursday 4 May this year, AND you still live at the same address, you should already be registered to vote but if not, you need to register by Monday 22 May.
If you’re not on the electoral roll, visit Gov.uk to register to vote in England, Scotland and Wales. Registering online takes about five minutes.
Or you can download a form to register by post, which you’ll need to send to your local electoral registration office, but make sure it arrives by 22 May.
To register in Northern Ireland, visit the Your Vote Matters website to download the form and return it to your local area electoral office.
Postal and proxy votes
If you’re already registered to vote in person and you wish to switch to a postal vote or a proxy vote (where a voter nominates a trusted person to cast a vote on their behalf) in time for the general election, there are separate deadlines for changing your voting method.
To switch to a postal vote, you’ll need to register by 5pm on Tuesday 23 May. If you’re opting for a proxy vote, the deadline is 5pm on Wednesday 31 May.
If you’re in England, Scotland or Wales, you can change your voting preferences by downloading a postal vote or proxy vote form from Gov.uk. To do this in Northern Ireland, different forms are required.
Comment on Guardian article:
“Tory maths:
Manifesto says they will build 500,000 new houses.
According to Conservatives this cost will be covered by £1.3 billion in extra capital spending (read borrowing).
£1.3 billion spent on 500,000 houses means each house will be built for £2600.
Current waiting list for council housing, 1.25 million people.”
From a correspondent”
“Maggie May”
The Tory slogan or cliché
Is “Strong and Stable Mrs May”.
“Strong”? Just on the weak, I’d say.
“Why take disableds’ pay away?”
Said Kathy*. May had nought to say.
TV debate? Too “frit” to play.
And what, last April*, did she say? –
She argued not to “leave” but “stay”:
Irish and Scots could break away;
The bankers could all go away;
Trade deals? Could be worse, O.K?
In single market? Costs to pay.
On Brexit it is all hearsay:
Why put your trust in Mrs May?
Do YOU know what she’ll give away?
Tories are split, in disarray.
And what if she’d just “run away”
And Far Right/Daily Mail hold sway?
What does her manifesto say?
For social care you’ll have to pay;
More cuts for schools are on the way;
Retireds face a cut in pay*;
Few immigrants? The figures say
A record under Mrs May*.
What will we get “post-Brexit day”?
The NHS will fade away
And if you’re ill you’ll have to pay*;
More zero hours and more low pay;
Meanwhile the richest will make hay;
More cuts – for that’s the Tory way.
Why WOULD YOU vote for Mrs May?
*Disabled Kathy in Abingdon recently wanted Mrs May not to cut disabled living allowance and care. (Kathy has £100 a month to live on.) * 25 April 2016
*No triple lock on state pensions
*A record 650,000 immigrants entered UK in May’s last year as Home Secretary.
*Boris Johnson wants us to pay for NHS treatment, Michael Gove to privatise it, Iain Duncan Smith to replace it with an insurance system – John Major said the NHS was as safe in their hands as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python.”
George Osborne in the Evening Standard unwittingly revealing TRUE coalition policies in an article meant to diss Jeremy Corbyn:
“The Coalition government enacted a programme of austerity but claimed that key services such as the NHS and schools would be ‘ring-fenced’ — true in the strict sense that their budgets were not cut, but in practice they faced a prolonged freeze that meant they couldn’t do everything asked of them.”
Heck, Swire can’t even vote for himself in East Devon as he doesn’t live in the constituency, preferring to syay well away on the other side of the M5!
“The ability of Commonwealth citizens to vote in our elections means that changes to the membership of the Commonwealth have a knock-on impact on who can vote. (It also means that Mozambique and Rwandan citizens can vote here – surely the obscurest group with the franchise given that neither country was part of the British empire but they were admitted to the Commonwealth for political reasons.)
The latest change, following the news about The Gambia, is that Maldivians have now lost the vote. Their country left the Commonwealth last year under pressure over human rights, and the relevant legislative change has just come in.”
http://www.markpack.org.uk/149913/maldives-electoral-registration/
Now
This post has come from the Save our Hospital Services Devon website – it’s not been verified but, if true, is VERY scary:
“Tim Woodcock Quote from a city worker :
“The Conservatives will attempt to soften the blow by promising that pensioners will not have to sell their homes to pay for their care costs while they or a surviving partner are alive. Instead, ‘products will be available’ allowing the elderly to pay by extracting equity from their homes, which will be recovered at a later date when they die or sell their residence.
I have just seen this post online:
‘People need to read the small print associated with this because its a lot nastier than it looks.
I work in the City. The insurance industry was approached by the Government several months ago with the aim of creating a new market for a new product.
This arrangement is a culmination of those discussions. You wont have to sell your house PROVIDED that you purchase an insurance product to cover your social care. The “premiums” would be recovered from the equity after the house has been sold and the Insurance company will have a lien on the house and can force a sale if it wants to. So your offspring cant keep it on the market for long in order to get the best price.
The real kicker in this is that in order to encourage the industry to market these products the government guaranteed that there would be no cap on the premiums.
This was in some ways “attonement” for Osborne’s destruction of the highly lucrative annuties market. This means that the premiums could be up to (and including) the entire remaining equity in the property after the government has taken its cut. Compamies will be falling over themselves to get their snouts in this trough.
In short your offspring and relatives could get absolutely nothing from your estate.
If you buy one of these products you need to read the small print very very carefully indeed because there will be some real dogs on the market.
I suspect that this is another financial scandal waiting to happen, but by the time it does May will be long gone.”
Well, they would say this now (“slamming” the decision to close Honiton and Seaton community beds with those in Axminster and Ottery already gone) wouldn’t they – after saying almost nothing before county elections but with all the recent bad news that reflects badly on incumbent Tory MPs and extremely well on Claire Wright!
Remember: talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words.
He says he prefers door-knocking. Please do inform Owl if he knocks at YOUR door.
http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/hustings-row-as-east-devon-election-campaign-begins-1-5023424
People might think he is afraid to meet the most popular councillor in Devon (Claire Wright, Independent Parliamentary candidate) on her home turf. Especially as she has a strong track record of standing AGAINST health and education cuts and FOR environmental protection.
Swire? Says he wants ” good health care” but has endorsed CCG changes, did not fight bed cuts in East Devon, only his own corner, is part of the government that is cutting Devon education funding and says we don’t need to worry about environmental protection as it is safe in Tory hands. AND he says being an MP isn’t a job, so he and George Osborne should have as many jobs as they like (he declares two, bringing in £5,000 per month).
He spends much of his time in the Middle East, frequently asks questions in Parliament about places like the Maldives, Egypt and Venezuela and lives in mid-Devon when he ventures south of London.
No wonder he won’t debate!
Claire Wright says:
“I am really disappointed that Hugo Swire is refusing to attend hustings during the general election period. MPs are supposed to be accountable to constituents and this is a golden opportunity for him to talk about how he plans to represent people if he is re-elected. It reflects very badly on him that he is refusing to attend.
“I was looking forward to having a robust debate with him and I can only assume that he is refusing to attend because he is worried about being challenged by me – I have been regularly holding him to account for the past three years via my blog and through the media!”
Surely, May’s announcement of many, many more people being made to pay directly for their social care means that costings in STPs are wrong?
As such, they cannot and should not be implemented.
Those providing the care will also have large assets in the form of charges on people’s homes. How (if at all) will these be ring-fenced for the NHS and/or social care in future?
Those making the charges will have assets and so be able to borrow against them or sell them on to hedge funds – they could, in effect, be packaged and traded just as mortgages were – a big facet of the last big financial crash.
A great deal of money can be made or lost in this situation.
Oh dear.
To the respondent to the previous post who queried the crimes in the Bluehayes Road area of Cranbrook:
15 antisocial behaviour
1 bicycle theft
1 criminal damage and arson
1 public order
3 shoplifting
4 violence and sexual offences
https://www.police.uk/devon-and-cornwall/DEV.4087/crime/623128/
If this is incorrect, the correspondent should take the matter up with Devon and Cornwall Police who provided the above information on their interactive crime website.
“Among the street areas with the highest levels of recorded crimes were:
Union Street area, Plymouth – 43
The Strand area, Torquay – 33
Northernhay area, Exeter – 32
Little Castle Street, Exeter – 30
Barnstaple High Street area – 27
Market Avenue area, Plymouth – 26
Bluehayes Lane, Cranbrook – 25
http://www.devonlive.com/devon-s-crime-hotspots-revealed/story-30338233-detail/story.html
“People in the UK are 64 times as likely to die of air pollution as those in Sweden and twice as likely as those in the US, figures from the World Health Organisation reveal.
Britain, which has a mortality rate for air pollution of 25.7 per 100,000 people, was also beaten by Brazil and Mexico – but it trailed far behind Sweden, the cleanest nation in the EU with a rate of 0.4 per 100,000.
The US rate per 100,000 was 12.1, Brazil’s was 15.8 and Mexico’s was 23.5, while Argentina was at 24.6.
The figures are revealed in the WHO World Health Statistics 2017 report, published on Wednesday, which says substantially reducing the number of deaths globally from air pollution is a key target. …”
With a recent judicial review announced for the effect on air pollution of a new town, one wonders if Cranbrook would have been one of those cited in the current (toxic) climate.
