The Flat Earth Society lives. I use them as examples of denying-the-bleeding-obvious. But at East Lothian Council’s meeting to set a ‘flat’ (£210m) budget, our other-worldly Labour opposition deserved a prize—if not a world record—for cognitive dissonance.
After Leader Paul McLennan detailed his Administration’s proposals, Labour’s Willie Innes spent his time trying to rubbish his speech. By comparison, Don Quixote was a shrewd strategist. And, lest ye think I’m being partisan, his group voted against:
- free school meals rollout to more deprived (i.e. Labour) areas
- two dedicated police, adding to four already in (you’ve got it—Labour) areas
- a doubling of apprenticeships, so beloved by his party Leader
- retaining tenant advisors (avoids vulnerable being made homeless)
- sustaining budgets for Schools and Adult Social Care (i.e. NO CUTS)
- building more council houses that the 95% of our tenants say they want
- avoiding planned forced redundancy (savings come from managing vacancies)
To everyone else’s embarrassment, they even tried a legal challenge to the first item. Perhaps when swingeing service/job cuts visited on Midlothian, N & S Lanarkshire and Glasgow by their Labour colleagues become public, ELC’s comparative fiscal robustness might inspire them towards enlightenment.
But I doubt it. Flat-earthers dislike moving at all (in case they they fall off)…and I don’t even know which planet our lot are on. Relevant links (doesn’t matter which you pick):
http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prestonpans-Labour-Party-Social-Club/167173356641834
