I was interested to read Gavin James reassuring us, that he takes the role of guardian of public money seriously. Labour has a poor record on spending public money wisely, you only have to look at the administration in Wales, to see how things could develop.

However, if we accept his promise, how much power do councillors have over the council? We can get rid of councillors at local elections, but the council is always there. It is responsible for the day-to-day running of services, it is responsible for the spending or wasting of money. We know that all public services, seem to be run for the benefit of the people who work there, not the people who fund it. The private sector has to constantly improve its efficiency, while the public sector just grows its numbers.

Does Gavin know for instance, how many employees are still working from home? Do employees still take sickness entitlement, as part of holiday allowance? Are any employees working on diversity or climate change? It will be interesting to see what happens.

On the same page, was an article, which posed the question, can Basingstoke become the green capital of Hampshire. The answer is, who really cares, what is the point? This country produces one per cent of total CO2, so whether we are the green capital or not will not make the slightest difference to climate change. Yes, we must reduce fossil fuel use and reduce pollution, but until we have nuclear, gas is the only efficient way to keep the 'lights on'. We could frack gas, but the hopeless Government is frightened of climate change idiots. If they are so convinced we are all going to fry, why aren't they vigorously campaigning in the worst polluting countries? The answer, of course, is that they don't really think, it is that serious, but there are a lot of people making a living out of climate change.    

David White

Coates Close

Basingstoke

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