The Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting held on the 6th November, 2018,
have finally surfaced and have been presented to the Committee meeting
on the 31st January, 2019.
The meeting in November was held to receive the Care Inspectorate Wales
(CIW) Report AND the Annual Complaints Handling Report of the Supporting
Children and Families department.
Previous blog posts have publicised the emails sent to the members of
the Care Scrutiny Committee in which issues were raised with the
'accuracy' of the Complaints Report, authored and presented by Dafydd
Paul.
The minutes are, also, not an accurate record of the meeting and an
email was sent to the Democratic Services on the morning of the meeting
raising this point and asking for an explanation.
No reply was given and the meeting went ahead with the Minutes signed
and are now seen as an accurate record - they are not. I wonder if the
email was even presented to the Committee.
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/400538
Something is very wrong within Gwynedd Council.
Gwynedd Council Fail.: Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Meeting Concluded.:
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Cyngor Gwynedd Councillor's Responsibilities And Constitution.
The Council's Constitution contains the rules and procedures for
making decisions and managing the Council's business. In the
Constitution you will find information on the committee structure, its
procedures, the rights given to individual officers and members to make
decisions, the standards of conduct expected and the allowances paid to
members.
The Constitution is a large document which has been divided into a number of sections (see below).
https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Council/Strategies-and-policies/Corporate-plans-and-strategies/TheConstitution.aspx
SECTION 1 - Introduction
If you have any questions or observations on the Constitution, contact the Monitoring Officer: IwanGDEvans@gwynedd.llyw.cymru
Gwynedd Council Fail.: Cyngor Gwynedd Constitution And Councillor's Respo...:
making decisions and managing the Council's business. In the
Constitution you will find information on the committee structure, its
procedures, the rights given to individual officers and members to make
decisions, the standards of conduct expected and the allowances paid to
members.
The Constitution is a large document which has been divided into a number of sections (see below).
https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Council/Strategies-and-policies/Corporate-plans-and-strategies/TheConstitution.aspx
SECTION 1 - Introduction
SECTION 2 - Purpose, definition interpretation and amendment of the constitution
SECTION 3 - Getting information and getting involved
SECTION 4 - Full Council
SECTION 5 - The Cabinet
SECTION 6 - The Leader
SECTION 7 - Scrutiny Committees
SECTION 8 - The Standards Committee
SECTION 9 - Regulatory Committees
SECTION 10 - Joint Committees
SECTION 11 - Officers
SECTION 12 - Finance contracts and legal matters
SECTION 13 - Responsibility for functions – Summary
SECTION 14 - Access to information procedure rules
SECTION 15 - Budget and policy framework procedure rules
SECTION 16 - Financial procedure rules
SECTION 17 - Contract standing orders and procurement rules
SECTION 18 - Members' code of conduct
SECTION 19 - Planning code of practice
SECTION 20 - Code of conduct for employees
SECTION 21 - Protocol on member / officer relations
SECTION 22 - Whistleblowing Policy
https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Council/Strategies-and-policies/Corporate-plans-and-strategies/TheConstitution.aspx
If you have any questions or observations on the Constitution, contact the Monitoring Officer: IwanGDEvans@gwynedd.llyw.cymru
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Seemorerocks: The truth behind Venezuela's collapse
Trump’s Economic Sanctions Have Cost Venezuela About $6bn Since August 2017
Emersberger
analyses the recent article by government critic Francisco Rodriguez,
in which Rodriguez admits that US sanctions are "misguided" and have a
damaging effect on the Venezuelan people in general.
27 September, 2018
The following piece by Canadian political analyst Joe Emersberger was written in response to a recent article by Torino Capital Chief Economist Francisco Rodriguez.
Rodriguez
is well-known as an outspoken critic of the Maduro government, but in
his recent article he recognizes that Washington’s “misguided” sanctions
are exacerbating falling oil production in Venezuela and as such,
pejoratively affecting general living standards.
The resulting loss of access to credit appears to have helped precipitate the collapse in oil output, driving the resulting economic contraction.
Our point is that the spilling over of this political crisis into the arena of finance had consequences for the country’s economy and for the living standards of Venezuelans,
Despite
problematic comparisons between Venezuela and Iraq and Syria and
charged anti-government rhetoric, Rodriguez presents a coherent economic
argument against US sanctions which, amongst other things, block
international payments.
I argue that Venezuela’s economy has imploded because it can’t import.
Finally,
Rodriguez deconstructs Washington’s argument that the sanctions only
impact high-ranking figures in the Venezuelan government, claiming that:
Advocates of sanctions on Venezuela claim that these target the Maduro regime but do not affect the Venezuelan people. If the sanctions regime can be linked to the deterioration of the country’s export capacity and to its consequent import and growth collapse, then this claim is clearly wrong.
Venezuelanalysis team.
Venezuelan economist Francisco Rodriguez, a long time critic of the Venezuelan government, wrote a piece showing that
after sanctions Trump introduced in August of 2017 Venezuela’s oil
production dropped much faster than analysts had predicted it would.
Rodriguez was the economic advisor to former presidential candidate
Henri Falcon, who defied US threats to run in Venezuela’s presidential elections that were held in May despite the boycott of other opposition leaders.
Venezuelan
oil production followed essentially the same pattern as Colombia’s
during 2016 and most of 2017 –until August when Trump’s sanctions came
into force. A decline in production was driven by the price of oil
hitting its lowest point in about a decade at the start of 2016. But in
August of 2017 Trump’s sanctions made it illegal for the Venezuelan
government to obtain financing from the US which was devastating for two
reasons: all the Venezuelan governments’ outstanding foreign currency
bonds are governed under New York state law; and one of the Venezuelan
government’s major assets, the state-owned CITGO corporation, is based
in Texas. The sanctions also blocked CITGO from sending profits and
dividends back to Venezuela (which had been averaging about $1 billion USD per year since 2015).
The
table below shows my estimate of Venezuela’s oil revenues each month
since Trump’s sanctions came into force. The price of WTI oil (which
approximates the price of Venezuela’s) basically increased linearly
since August of 2017 from $50 to about $70 per barrel. The oil
production volumes are taken from the estimates Rodriguez has provided.
In the “no sanctions” case show below, it is assumed that Venezuela‘s
oil production would have continued to fall at the same rate as in the
12 months before Trump’s sanctions. Rodriguez cited a “worst case”
prediction made by a prominent oil consultant that a 13% decline in
production would take place in 2017 followed by a 6% decline in 2018.
The “no sanctions” case shown below is close to that “worst case
prediction”. It assumes an 11% decline would have taken place. In
reality (i.e. the “sanctions” case) production has fallen by 37% since
the sanctions were imposed. The difference in total revenue between the
“sanction” and “no sanctions” case over the twelve month period is about
$6 billion.
That sum, $6 billion, is 133 times larger than what the UNHCR has appealed for in aid for Venezuelan migrants. It is also equal to about 6% of Venezuela’s GDP at present. Health care spending in Latin America and the Caribbean averages about 7% of GDP.
Perversely,
Maduro’s government has been widely accused of “using” the economic
crisis to “buy” loyalty of the most vulnerable through the direct
delivery of food and other basic products. Trump’s goal is clearly to
starve the government of funds it uses to allegedly “buy support” (i.e.
respond to the crisis).
Rodriguez
pulls his punches and heavily qualifies his thesis, but the inescapable
conclusion is that Trump’s policy is depraved. The US has deliberately
made an economic catastrophe much worse in the hope that its Venezuelan
allies can seize power through violence as they briefly did in April of
2002.
https://robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-truth-behind-venezuelas-collapse.html
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
99% is ....... The Barnet Eye: Why the time has come to stop writing blogs
99% is ....... The Barnet Eye: Why the time has come to stop writing blogs: Every day I spend two/three hours writing and researching this blog. It is a Labour of love. Over the last ten and a quarter years, I've...
Seemorerocks: NZ globalist PM Adern hobnobs with the elite at Da...
Seemorerocks: NZ globalist PM Adern hobnobs with the elite at Da...: Hypocrisy comes to mind quickly. This article accurately points out the policies of this government. Adern is hobnobbing with spome...
In The Public Domain?: SKIDDER NEWS FLASH - ELING SUSPENDED!
In The Public Domain?: SKIDDER NEWS FLASH - ELING SUSPENDED!: Labour sources are contacting The Skidder this morning to say the Leader [sic] of bent Sandwell Labour Sandwell Council has been suspended b...
Monday, January 14, 2019
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Pete North Politics Blog: Britain's sham democracy
The Daily Mail reports
today that "Redundancy packages for two executives at the centre of
council mergers will cost taxpayers almost £1million. Nine local
authorities in Dorset will combine to form just two in April.
government management is worth that much and especially not for
midranking authorities in the rural shires. But when you account for the
fact that council at the bottom end is still more than £1000, that's
hundreds of households threatened with bailiffs and imprisonment if they
don't cough up to finance these parasites.
Some 2.2 million
people were visited by bailiffs in the last two years. Citizens Advice
have found that one in three people have seen bailiffs breaking the
rules, 40 per cent have suffered intimidation and there has been a 24
per cent increase in problems since the Government’s reforms were
introduced in 2014. The reforms themselves did nothing to address the
problem of bailiffs being self-regulating and accountable to nobody,
further entrenching the rip off fee system.
What's interesting in respect of these grotesque payouts is the circumstances
where Parliament, without seeking local consent, has passed legislation
for Dorset's nine councils to merge into two unitary authorities. Under
the plans, due to come into effect in April, Bournemouth, Poole and
Christchurch would merge. A second council would be formed from Dorset
County Council, East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, Weymouth &
Portland and West Dorset. Why council mergers go anywhere near
Westminster for approval escapes me.Christchurch Borough Council formally opposed the plans and launched a
legal challenge but in a joint statement, the leaders of the other eight
councils described the passing of the legislation as "an historic day
for local government" in the county. "These two new councils will have a
stronger, co-ordinated voice when bidding for government funding and
investment for things like road improvements, housing, schools and
economic regeneration; the things that benefit an area for all those
living within it".
More - Pete North Politics Blog: Britain's sham democracy
today that "Redundancy packages for two executives at the centre of
council mergers will cost taxpayers almost £1million. Nine local
authorities in Dorset will combine to form just two in April.
Senior staff losing their jobs are being handed payouts which vastly
exceed a cap on the public sector’s so-called ‘golden parachutes’. Jane
Portman, the managing director of Bournemouth Borough Council, is to
receive a pay and pension redundancy package of £473,000, it was
announced yesterday. Debbie Ward, chief executive of Dorset County
Council, has been awarded the same amount after leaving her post in
November".
These sums of themselves are offensive in that nobody in local exceed a cap on the public sector’s so-called ‘golden parachutes’. Jane
Portman, the managing director of Bournemouth Borough Council, is to
receive a pay and pension redundancy package of £473,000, it was
announced yesterday. Debbie Ward, chief executive of Dorset County
Council, has been awarded the same amount after leaving her post in
November".
You would think this would be bigger news, but it's not big news because
this is run of the mill. I've been keeping an eye on this exact sort of
story for more than ten years now and this is only newsworthy by way of
the figures involved being marginally higher than usual. It
occasionally makes the news but generally doesn't make it past above
local coverage. As offensive as it is, nobody has lifted a finger to do
anything about it.
this is run of the mill. I've been keeping an eye on this exact sort of
story for more than ten years now and this is only newsworthy by way of
the figures involved being marginally higher than usual. It
occasionally makes the news but generally doesn't make it past above
local coverage. As offensive as it is, nobody has lifted a finger to do
anything about it.
government management is worth that much and especially not for
midranking authorities in the rural shires. But when you account for the
fact that council at the bottom end is still more than £1000, that's
hundreds of households threatened with bailiffs and imprisonment if they
don't cough up to finance these parasites.
Some 2.2 million
people were visited by bailiffs in the last two years. Citizens Advice
have found that one in three people have seen bailiffs breaking the
rules, 40 per cent have suffered intimidation and there has been a 24
per cent increase in problems since the Government’s reforms were
introduced in 2014. The reforms themselves did nothing to address the
problem of bailiffs being self-regulating and accountable to nobody,
further entrenching the rip off fee system.
What's interesting in respect of these grotesque payouts is the circumstances
where Parliament, without seeking local consent, has passed legislation
for Dorset's nine councils to merge into two unitary authorities. Under
the plans, due to come into effect in April, Bournemouth, Poole and
Christchurch would merge. A second council would be formed from Dorset
County Council, East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, Weymouth &
Portland and West Dorset. Why council mergers go anywhere near
Westminster for approval escapes me.
legal challenge but in a joint statement, the leaders of the other eight
councils described the passing of the legislation as "an historic day
for local government" in the county. "These two new councils will have a
stronger, co-ordinated voice when bidding for government funding and
investment for things like road improvements, housing, schools and
economic regeneration; the things that benefit an area for all those
living within it".
More - Pete North Politics Blog: Britain's sham democracy
Monday, January 07, 2019
Thursday, January 03, 2019
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