These are a few observations and opinions. I shall be adding to them from time to time. Anyone is welcome to comment to me at:
sy708atbtinternet.com
(The 'at' is in there to fool spam crawlers, of course. Put in your own @ sign).
It is well known that I am not a fan of Tony Blair, as many of you will have gathered by now.
N.H.S. Where has all the money gone? New Labour say they have been chucking money at the NHS at an unprecedented rate, but today the NHS is in a worse state than for many years. Why? I think the way they are trying to run the NHS as a huge business is largely to blame. Layer upon layer of management, empire-building at most managerial levels, penny-pinching in critical areas like cleanliness, unrealistic 'targets' that result in dishonest entries to achieve those targets, etc.
Right at the bottom of priorities come patients, doctors, nurses and beds. I am in favour of bringing back the 'Matron' system, when a hospital was run as a hospital, not as a parody of a business.
If I ran my business like the NHS, I'd be bankrupt in a month!
Common-sense in the Town Centre.
Locally, common-sense is about cleaning up the Town Centre instead of letting it run down.
Common-sense means refurbishing the Market Square, lowering the rents of market traders in order to keep those we have, and entice more in, and making town centre car parking cheap or free.
It means lowering the rates on town centre shops, so we can have a wider diversity of shopping. It means running subsidised buses in from country villages on some weekdays, to give people a shopping trip.
It means making more of the cultural heritage of our historic town by promoting tourism and giving guided tours of the town centre's historic attractions. It means making people feel proud of their town centre again.
It means getting tough on crime and criminals, ending the dreadful cycle of heroin, prostitution, and drug-related crime.
Where's all the cash coming from? The national government have given the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation a great deal of money to use to improve Northampton Town Centre. I would like to see this money spent on practical improvements at ground level, rather than end up in the pockets of spin merchants and property developers, wouldn't you?
If national government is really so keen on restoring our blighted town centres it should put its money where its mouth is, and start with practical help for town centres.
