Mail v local government.

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:19 am

That's a good point. Also, everyone cuts advertising in a recession, so commercial rates might be low anyway.

DTR · **Posted:** Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:35 am

Just read the BBC's report and that confirms what I said up thread.

Gourami · **Joined:** Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:51 pm **Posts:** 2005

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

That's a good point. Also, everyone cuts advertising in a recession, so commercial rates might be low anyway.

Having had involvement in a former incarnation I can confirm that advertising rates are incredibly fluid, often made up on the spot. They change right then and there if there is a deal to be made or lost and targets for sales are set on a weekly, even daily, basis. I reckon at the moment you could get anything you want in a lot of places for a lot less than it would have been 10 years ago, accounting for inflation.

There is a myth in advertising that it is recession proof, or even thrives in tough times, as people need more than ever to get themselves in front of customers. Total piss, of course.

Arnold · **Posted:** Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:01 pm

Quote:

You'll be waiting a long time... £5,000 spent on bus shelter that isn't even on a route!

Quote:

But this old maxim will never come true at one bus shelter in Durham after the council built the new stop on a road with no bus routes

Quote:

The scheme cost taxpayers £1,800 to demolish the old shelter and £2,800 to build a replacement - and it will cost a futher £580 to move the shelter to another location

So not £5K wasted then.

Quote:

'The work on the shelter was carried out after consultations with Arriva who, on two separate occasions, confirmed that their bus services would be using the stop.

'Unfortunately, they have subsequently informed the council that they are now not planning to operate services on this route

And apparently not a Council mistake.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1mOMJKtGw

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:37 pm

Another example of the efficiency of private enterprise?

Arnold · **Posted:** Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:59 pm

Quote:

Council spends £5,000 and four months teaching workers the best way to open their morning POST

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1mYarzgCw
Civil Service actually, but let's not split hairs. The figure of £5000 seems to have been pulled out of the reporter's arse, and there's no rentaquote from the Tax Dodgers Association either.

Messianic Trees · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:50 pm **Posts:** 2827

Mind your head! Bungling council spends £320,000 on cycle path - with tunnel that's too low to ride under
One tunnel section is only 5ft 9ins tall - the height of an average British man

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1nDnArLQ3

Quote:

As usual a load of rants from ill-informed people, stirred into a frenzy by the Mail. A few facts - 1) At 5'10 I can cycle under the bridge without any problem. And do so on a regular basis. 2) The only alternative is to cycle up a steep and very narrow section of the A35 where cars pass with inches to spare at 50mph. Which way would you go, given the choice?
- BillyWhizz, Axminster, 23/2/2012 15:07

ezinra · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:12 pm

Quote:

The trouble with local authority workers is that due to the Last Governments penchant for politically correct box ticking and " Positive discrimination " policies the best suited, most capable person never got the job. The one who ticked the most boxes got the job whether he was the best candidate or not. hence local authorities are littered with incompetent and useless employees that are never fired and more often than not promoted even further out of their depth or abilities.

- Duncan W, Samui, Thailand, 23/2/2012 2:15 Rating (0)

Untroubled by evidence or a distance of several thousand miles, Duncan W displays admirable ignorance of how recruitment and local government work.

mojojojo · **Joined:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:33 pm **Posts:** 4264

Yep, every word that Duncan has uttered is wrong. Not that it's any of his fucking business.

Andy McDandy · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:57 pm

Why do I have a sudden image of Duncan standing in a library or Jobcentre or council office bellowing at the top of his voice at someone "I WANNA TALK TO A MAN!"?

mojojojo · **Joined:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:33 pm **Posts:** 4264

Duncan's probably applied for jobs at the library but never got one because he's a creepy sex pest who tells unfunny jokes to the staff aggressively and thinks they all like him and the idea of him dealing with the public without talking to them like shit is laughable. In his mind though it doesn't work like that. He's seen women get jobs there and perhaps even an ethnic, and seeing as he could do the job standing on his head the only explanation is positive discrimination. Why else would they refuse to take an astronaut doctor motorcar racer like Duncan?

Never mind that positive discrimination is illegal and that everything he says that happens in local government doesn't. I expect the Thai women he now bangs onto wearily nod their heads and agree with him though, just like they should, eh Duncan?

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:18 pm

Messianic Trees wrote:

Mind your head! Bungling council spends £320,000 on cycle path - with tunnel that's too low to ride under
One tunnel section is only 5ft 9ins tall - the height of an average British man

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1nDnArLQ3

Quote:

As usual a load of rants from ill-informed people, stirred into a frenzy by the Mail. A few facts - 1) At 5'10 I can cycle under the bridge without any problem. And do so on a regular basis. 2) The only alternative is to cycle up a steep and very narrow section of the A35 where cars pass with inches to spare at 50mph. Which way would you go, given the choice?
- BillyWhizz, Axminster, 23/2/2012 15:07

Well said, Billy.

So as long as the bike is less than 5 ft 9, you can get off, stoop and push your bike along for a bit? Have I got that right?

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:33 pm

Duplicate post- ignore.

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:34 pm

Well, guess who showed up for a comment?

Quote:

Emma Boon of The Tax Payers’ Alliance said: 'Cyclists won’t thank officials for spending such an enormous sum of money on this cycle path if it is so dangerous to use it.

'Projects like this should be better planned so that taxpayers’ money is not wasted.'

Yeah, looks a right deathtrap. What do you do all day? Seeing you provide quotes on things you haven't even looked up?

The Mail really wore out the shoe leather on this story. The day before from the local paper:

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/cy ... _1_1216452

Local paper included the mayor talking about his disabled son liking the path and the potential to attract tourists and take traffic off the A35. Mail took that out and added the TPA.

Gourami · **Joined:** Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:51 pm **Posts:** 2005

I often cycle along a towpath which has several low bridges. Somehow people cope. Most get off and push their bikes through and a few hunker down and coast under. I have no doubt you could find several thousand such spots in the UK. How is the news?

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