……………MY BIN was emptied; and I am grateful for the men who came a week ago last Saturday before 8 a.m. to take away my green bin’s dry recycling waste and my brown bin’s compostable food waste. “So what’s the story”, you may ask? Sadly, the story runs over the past 5 weeks and, as […]

In recent months and days, the very existence of Uttlesford District Council seems questionable. I am kicking off this trilogy with a slightly shortened account from the Bishop’s Stortford Independent by reporter Hollie Ryder. Uttlesford District Council: Residents for Uttlesford-led authority says it is facing ‘tough but manageable’ financial challenges ahead Uttlesford District Council is […]

I last wrote about this ongoing issue three weeks ago, just prior to the adjourned Council Meeting on July 21st. That Thursday’s meeting got off to a disgracefully bad start when the Chair, Cllr Heather Asker, announced that the number of councillors allowed to speaker would be limited to a strict quota to ensure business […]

Mystery and cover-up surrounds Uttlesford’s mishandling of the 2021 planning appeal by Stansted Airport against Uttlesford Council’s refusal to raise the passenger limit at the local airport. I FEAR THAT UTTLESFORD’S POLITICAL LEADERS ARE TRYING TO SCAPEGOAT THEIR OWN PLANNING COMMITTEE BY PUBLICLY PILLORYING ITS COUNCILLOR MEMBERS. A recent “independent” report commissioned by officers at […]

This week I came across an old Turkish proverb. It describes the national and local situation so well. “When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that today’s political culture is not one of integrity and honesty to get the […]

Uttlesford District Council faces job cuts and service decline because the Residents for oUrselves (R4oU) [aka R4U] political administration has now put UDC in debt to the tune of  £275,000,000 to prop up their wasteful spending plans. That’s forty-five times the Council’s basic tax income; a massive mortgage on the shoulders of local residents and […]

Integrity. Here is an online definition: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Such as “a gentleman of complete integrity”. Synonyms: honesty · uprightness · probity · rectitude · honour · Yesterday we saw the Prime Minster of the United Kingdom make an apology. Today it is reported that a few hours later Mr Boris Johnson was telling Conservative colleagues that he was really […]

Last weekend I wrote to the MP for Saffron Walden, Mrs Kemi Badenoch, about the controversy about MPs’ additional earnings and the Parliamentary Standards Committee.  Yesterday our Member of Parliament sent me a reply. It can be read here:   From: Kemi Badenoch MP <Kemi.badenoch.mp@parliament.uk> Fri 12/11/2021 15:19  Dear Cllr Dean  Thank you for contacting […]

The following words are in italics because they are not my words. They are frightening analysis of a man who should never have found his way to his present job.   Boris Johnson should look Richard Ratcliffe in the eye. If he did, he would catch a reflection of himself that might prove painful but […]

The Bishop’s Stortford Independent yesterday published a new, on-line story about a longstanding investigation by Essex Police into possible criminality within Uttlesford District Council. The report can be read here. The public at least now knows that the Essex Police are referring that case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for discussions. This is what […]