Friday May 11th 2012

A grinning Environment Minister (Richard Benyon by name) fluttered into Somerset the other day (without telling me, tut tut - bit of a breach of protocol don't you know!) Anyway Mr B got busy on Exmoor  "taking an interest in the excellent work of Butterfly Conservation" (this is according to Exmoor National Park - who are about to give £18000 of your money to these wasteful Butterfly fanciers) Mr B found time to grin again when he discussed the new (costly) coastal path, and he's always busy promoting that  loopy scheme to sink your money - flooding Steart.  Mr Benyon and water do not seem to mix. What a shame the Minister couldn't find time to pop down to the beach at Bossington and take a look at what his Department really ought to be doing.......fixing the defences:

 

Bossington's steep shingle defences were swept away by water cascading off Exmoor.

               

           This is how it used to look                                           This is how it is today

(with grinning Benyon pebbles added)                      (not a Benyon in sight, just a dog)

Its a shocking mess down there. Mr Benyon really should have paid a visit. A little less time spent grinning about butterflies, coastal paths and Steart would have been a much more sensible use of this Ministerial flying visit.

Tuesday May 1st 2012

 If you wondered why progress to repair the river wall in Bridgwater slowed down last week, permit me to offer some intelligence. You see it may be a vital wall to you and me - and the work IS urgent  - but these days we live at the beck and call of "regulators" (soon blowing one's nose may be considered a major crime if the correct permits are not in order first)

And here's a regulator you thought you'd never come across before.

Guess what - the MMO actually has to issue permits to allow the wall to be fixed - and they hadn't done it!

 But when Sir Bill Callaghan (Chairman of MMO) was told that Mogg might have his guts for garters the bureaucrats relented, the permits were issued and the wall is now being efficiently fixed again. Trust a pussy to get results - without a claw drawn!

Monday April 9th 2012

EXPELLIARMUS!

Followers of this page will know that I have previously mentioned a keen birdwatcher named Chris Foster. Mr Foster emailed me on February 14th to grumble about my views on butterfly fanciers - particularly those who are trying to extort thousands of pounds of public money in Somerset. So, on February 15th I published his email in full (scroll down the page and you'll find it) Then Mr Foster sent a letter complaining that I had published his email. On February 23rd I faithfully reproduced his missive. Now Mr Foster has apparantly complained about me to the Information Commissioner. I eagerly await their jurisdiction - but so far I haven't heard a dicky-bird.

Have I, in some way, infringed his "data privacy"?

Given that Mr Foster runs a website of his own it seems a far-fetched argument. Given that he regularly contributes to this blog and another one suggests that he is fond of seeing his views published. He even has a twitter account and his photographs are readily available on the internet

He also has friends in low places!

The lady on the left requires no introduction. Jill Shortland was the disastrous Lib Dem leader of Somerset County Council. She famously supported the “Organisational Bully” Somerset's ex-Chief Excecutive Alan Jones who openly labelled those who disagreed with his hapless invention (South West One) as either - a) “Holocaust Deniers” or b) “Organisational Terrorists”  Mrs Shortland is now accusing ME of cyber-bullying!

But the nerd on the right may need a description.  Mark Pack is a chocoholic who also contributes (like Hatbirder) to all sorts of obscure Lib Dem blogs. He claims to have fulfilled a very important role for his party at previous elections. And now he's leaping to the defence of  "Hatbirder" Foster and slagging me off into the bargain. This is a bit rich from a bloke whose most notable contribution to electioneering was the producton David Cameron spoof posters.

Anyway, in honour of Shortland, Pack and Hatbirder I leave you with a Potteresque poster for the next Hogwarts blockbuster. Chris Foster will play himself. Mark Pack is clearly a role for Danny De Vito and Jill Shortland is best portrayed on screen as a lump of mouldy cheddar cheese. 

 

Tuesday April 3rd 2012

Lord Leveson is currently conducting an important inquiry into the role of the press. He is looking specifically into the bad practises of journalism - phone hacking and bribing policemen for example. I was therefore very surprised when Colin Port, Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police, turned up to give evidence and launched a bizarre attack on me and the BBC. Here's what he said:

Wednesday February 28th 2012

What to wear on a butterfly hunt ?  Nothing better than a Plackett polo!

And if, by some twist of common sense, Butterfly lovers fail to extract £18000 from Exmoor National Park then it is good to learn that Her Majesty's Government has come up with a substitute source of funding in order to safeguard a creature in Devon that looks a little bit like a butterfly.

This is the threatened freshwater pearl mussel. Guess what? DEFRA will shortly be dishing out £7 and half million pounds for new environmental projects. Twelve have been selected. One of them in the River Torridge. If the cash is split equally that means £650,000 each.

More than enough for several smart new Placketts!

Thursday February 23rd 2012

 NEWS JUST IN FROM GRABBIST HILL....the rare "Hatbirder" (friend of the Plackett) has been spotted again! This remarkable little creature is now threatening to beat me with a rolled-up copy of the Guardian for having drawn attention to his existence.

His bleats about data protection ring very hollow. He complains about my use of his email (see Wednesday 15th February)....an email, incidentally, copied to his own MP. He complains about my use of his photograph....a picture, incidentally, legitimately available from his own website. And now he wants a written apology!  Well I have disappointing news for "Hatbirder". He is a victim of his own publicity machine. He already appears on two different websites and twitters about tea-drinking. I am loathe to give the chap many more free plugs.

 Here is a new public mugshot of Mr Foster. My reply is contained inside this book

Friday February 17th 2012

 Those pesky butterfly fanciers are at it again - planning to disturb the peace on Grabbist Hill with their guided walks, and noisy bracken-bashing. I was tipped off about their antics by a disgruntled constituent:

From: An Exmoor Butterfly anexmoorbutterfly@hotmail.com
Sent: 16 February 2012 12:04
To: Ian Liddell-Grainger
Subject: Butterfly Fanciers

Dear Mr Liddell-Grainger,

I have been following the activities of the Butterfly fanciers for some time from my family home on Grabbist Hill. We were horrified when these interfering busy bodies arrived and began to make life difficult for the indigenous butterfly population. Far from assisting our survival they have become a nuisance and a health hazard with their open-toed sandals and yoghurt-pot mentalities. It is high time they left us alone. We therefore reject complaints made against you and wish your campaign all the very best.

Sincerely,

An Exmoor Butterfly

Thursday February 16th 2012

A DEATH HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED

Somerset's leader, Ken Maddocks, gave the following speech yesterday to a packed council chamber.

"As an administration we inherited a partnership that promised a huge amount, but it was not delivering. Southwest One’s accounts year on year show losses, staggering losses just published of £31m, and failures to hit modest savings targets.

We have bent over backwards to try to make this partnership work. But we have to state clearly that our primary duty in looking after the public’s hard earned money is to make sure we get the best possible deals, that we get the best possible value for the public’s money.

I have to say that Southwest One is failing this test.

We are currently looking at all our services and all our contracts to see whether we are doing the best we can for our customers,  whether we are providing the best possible services for our customers and at the best possible prices for our customers.

I have to say that Southwest One is failing this test.

We need a Council that can cope with future government cuts and rising demand. We will need to be efficient and flexible.

I have to say that Southwest One is failing this test.

Sadly, Southwest One is failing. It is failing to deliver promised savings; failing to cope with a changing financial landscape; failing to be flexible enough to adapt in challenging times and provide the best possible value for money.

To make up for this failure, we will now accelerate our extensive review of everything that the council does: Almost half our most vital services are carried out by private sector or not for profit organisations – we will look to increase this where appropriate. We will encourage social enterprises, partnerships, communities and voluntary groups to get more involved in what we do and what we run. We will look to put the customer at the heart of what we do.

And we will do this whilst we continue to do all we can to make Southwest One work. But I have to be clear; it is failing; it is inflexible; and it is intransigent. We are therefore looking at all the options available to us.

I do have one final message for Southwest One – and that is to the staff and our Somerset County Council colleagues and secondees working there.  The message is this: This continuing failure is not about you. It is about the contract, the complications, the failed technology, the missed opportunities, the lack of promised savings.  It is about Southwest One itself, not about the people working for it."

 

I couldn't have written it better myself!

 

 

PS.....can you guess the identity of the only Councillor to leap to South West One's defence?

Here's a four-headed clue (he's the leader of Taunton Deane!!!)

Wednesday February 15th 2012

The Lesser-Spotted Plackett Supporters' Club has been in touch after my published attack upon the pointlessness of spending tens of thousands of pounds of public cash to protect butterflies that seem to be doing very nicely without anyone's intervention.

Jenny Plackett is the Project Officer for the Two Moors Threatened Butterfly Project, currently trying to extract more money from Exmoor National Park. But Butterfly Conservation is big business. This "charity" recorded income of almost £5 million last year and spent less than £3 million - so they're not exactly short of the readies. Ms Plackett has already sent me a bleating note (you can read it on my Butterfly Fancier Pie page) Now I have been contacted by a fellow conservationist by the name of Chris Foster, though his twitching pals know him better as "hatbirder"

From: Christopher Foster [mailto:chris-foster@hotmail.co.uk] 
Sent: 14 February 2012 12:04
To: Ian Liddell-Grainger
Subject: Moorland Butterflies

 

Dear Mr Grainger, 

I read with interest your charicture of the work of Butterfly Conservation in your article for 'This is Devon'.  I appreciate your confidence in farming to turn around the fortunes of threatened species in Britain. There is much evidence from around the country that land managed by farmers still supports much of our valued wildlife. However, many increasingly rare species (and I can promise you the figures are not made up, but published in peer reviewed scientific papers - I wonder if you have read any of them?) require very specific conditions to thrive. I'm sure you would not contest that modern farming is as diverse on as local scale as it used to be when many species populations were established. The continued existene of rare butterflies, birds, beetles, and myriad other organisms, depends on us taking the initative to find out what it is these species require, and to deliver it, often in conjuction with the farming community.

This is one reason conservation charities exist: farmers do not have the time or resources to investigate species conservation strategies themselves, nor, in fairness, is it their job to do so. The work is performed instead by trained ecologists, like, for example, Jenny Plackett. And What is to prevent those of us who appreciate wildlife and recognise its irreplacable contribution to our national wellbeing from seeking to influence land management in its favour, and indeed from founding charities to fund this work? Butterfly Conservation is registered as a charity for the same reason that Guide Dogs for the Blind, featured on your website, or The Countryside Alliance Foundation are registered as charities. It relies on donations from its members, private foundations, trusts, and yes, public bodies, to do its work. 

Finally, I am astonished that as a public servant in reciept of a salary likely twice that of Ms Plackett, you have the gumption to mount a personal attack on her. I am only glad you are not my parliamentary representative, and will be writing to mine (Sir George Young) seeking assurances that if I were ever fortunate enough to secure a modestly paid job in my chosen career, hardly a lucrative one, he would not attack me in a similar manner. If you were attempting to reinforce the stereotype of the arrogant, aloof, sneering 'nasty' establishment Tory, congratulations. See how it feels to be the victim? A special page on your website dedicated to lampooning a constituent smacks of spectacular unprofessionalism. 

And I suppose you imagine the financial sacrifice I made to change careers last year and pay, from my own money, for an MSc in conservation to have been a complete waste of time and money. And that you wish me ill in my attempts to become a 'career conservationist' myself. What 'proper' job would you have me do, other than the one I have been trained to do? Myself and the Jenny Placketts of this world simply desire to earn a very modest living from deploying the skills we have - and a much larger proportion of the UK population than you imagine supports the aims of the conservation movement. 

Yours sincerely, 

Chris Foster

MSc Wildlife Management and Conservation
Reading University

Me thinks Mr Foster has spent rather too long in a bird hide getting his binoculars steamed-up. His pal, La Plackett, happens to be the public face of this generously-funded and (I think) pointless project. I have no personal grouse (if he will pardon the use of the word grouse) with her. I wish her happiness. I just don't see why the rest of us should have to finance such extravagence. As for Mr Foster, I note that he obtained his Msc from Reading University (where Butterfly Conservation held its international convention a year or so ago)  Mr Foster seems to have taken a 12-month "quickie"course, supported by the RSPB, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Marine Conservation Society, Hawk Conservancy Trust and the West Country Rivers Trust. In other words the Career Conservationists are now calling the shots in higher education.

Tuesday February 14th 2012

'Allo 'Allo

 "I shall say zees only once.....EDF 'av a craazy idea to erect many windy turbines near ze lovely village of Puriton. Sacre blue it iz mad. They say ze wind will blow even when ze wind has stopped. These Frenchmen are in danger of making ze big boobies. I blame their leetle President. We will not let them pass."

My master was at a crowded meeting in East Huntspill last night to see EDF desperately trying to prove that the wind never stops. And there will be more angry meetings to come - another firm, EcoTricity, have more windy plans they want to share with the locals on Thursday night. I can sense Somerset rising to the challenge!

Monday February 13th 2012

Meanwhile,  spare a thought for Jenny "Flutterbye" Plackett, a leftie Lepidopterist who is paid a comfortable salary from public funds to represent the interests of the Marsh Fritilliary and his mates. Ms Plackett has got her brightly spotted wingers in a twist about my recent article in the Western Morning News and subsequent recipe suggestion for cooking Butterly fanciers. Yum Yum!

Monday February 6th 2012

The dunderheads of Taunton Deane Council are about to hit tax payers with a little "extra" - 3.45% bigger bills, to be precise.

How did they get into this mess? Well the Penny is beginning to drop.

Penny James is Taunton Deane's Chief Executive and senior apologist for the world's worst joint venture company - South West One. This IBM-driven dinosaur has dismally failed to deliver any of the savings it promised to Taunton Deane. This is one reason why Taunton Deane is having to put up taxes and borrow a couple of extra millions. Penny herself has dismally failed to speak credible English about her role - here is one example from the quotes file: 

 “I oversee an on-going balancing act between flexibility and uniqueness on the one hand, and efficiency and control on the other.”

Disgruntled council employees - some of whom will lose their jobs as a result of all this - have coined a nickname for their boss:

 

Tuesday January 31st 2012

....and still more bad publicity for South West One! (the Costa Concordia of joint venture companies)

Monday January 30th 2012

The Headmaster writes:

"Staff of St Jones'Academy for Recidivist Information Technology are proud to note the elevation of former pupil, Julian David.  Julian is soon to become Director-General of the influential trade association Intellect, which represents all Britain's IT industry (ie not just IBM). This follows a glittering career at IBM during which Julian displayed exceptional marketing prowess. In 2000 he sold SAP to the unsuspectng retail industry, with predictably disastrous results. Then he branched into local government and persuaded those gullible folk at Somerset County Council to set up a joint venture. The rest is 'beyond excellence' "

Julian David, interviewed in 2007, gave a rosy view of South West One:

                     "Some local authorities are considering sharing their resources, is IBM involved in any of these projects?
The newest transformational project that we've embarked on is in Somerset. That is all about providing to their citizens a new approach to service. We used an approach that says start with the better IT and efficient delivery. You then expand into improving customer access. Through that, move to a transformation agenda based around a multi-agency approach - joining up the council for the benefit of the citizen. Also part of our proposition is considering the social and economic activities you can now bring to bear and how the council provides a better environment. We've just started taking over some of the services but the idea is essentially joining up what was two previously discrete authorities within the county. Interestingly, when they wrote the specifications for the procurement, they invited other local authorities to join in the framework. They took a joint venture approach with us so that this could happen and we are actively talking with a number of other authorities."

If you need a reminder of South West One's tragic commercial record please read their disastrious accounts for the year ended December 2010

Monday January 23rd 2012

  First the good news. South West One has finally submitted its accounts to Companies House. They were three months late, and should be filed under the heading "sick comedy". Once again, and without any surprise, this awful joint venture has made a thumping loss even though its IBM-programmed Chief Executive Fiona Capstick would have you believe otherwise.

Thursday January 19th 2012

Aha! So you thought I had vanished, did you. Tut tut. Clever cats merely go missing. So here's to a fun filled Olympic year of yet more feline tittle-tattle.

The coffin nails are in honour of those sad souls who set up South West One, the latest of whom is on his way out of County Hall for ever.

 

Matt Jones (£82k + per year) has "managed" the contract with South West One for the past four years. He was in at the very start as one of the original signatories in 2007.....as recently as March 2011 he was on the record trumpetting the "success" of South West One. The truth, however, is laughable history - like Matt himself