To quote Winston Churchill “Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried”. As we hear about the abuse some of our MPs have undertaken in completing their expenses it is hard to imagine how worse the others are.

My parents are exasperated with me. “Why on earth would I want to join this lot?” they say. “Give it up, concentrate on your business.” They have recently pleaded. Is giving up the answer? I don’t believe so. “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing”

The catalogue of tax free claims are totally unacceptable and must be stopped and repaid. However in addition the opportunity to make vast sums from second homes at taxpayers expense must also be ended.

However abuse of tax payers money doesn’t just stop here. In Hillingdon we have awarded 50% increase in allowances for senior councillors without any mandate. The Gazette have just revealed 30-80% increases to senior directors for doing the same job. None of these increases include the cost to the pension scheme which will be huge.

The above are all so called “Public Servants”.  With pay awards, allowances and benefits like these they are more like a “Public Rip Off merchants”.

There are millions of people out there who are struggling to make ends meet and this sort of public display of greed will only alienate them to vote for extremists. Its time politicians stopped trying to out do each other and started to listen to ordinary people. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”.  We need more listening. We need more real public service.

Increasingly people have been asking me: “how long will it be until the next local elections?” Not supporters, but ordinary residents fed up with the attitude of the local Conservative run council.

As the years have gone by the arrogance of the Conservative Cabinet has grown. Readers may have noticed I seem to have got into a spot of bother recently. The local Conservative dominated standards committee decided that I breached the Councillors code of conduct by allegedly calling all the Conservatives “corrupt”. I didn’t. As it happens I called the system of democracy that elected them “corrupt”.

That hasn’t stopped them pursuing their vendetta presumably trying to silence me at the cost of over £10,000 of public money. The committee concluded however that “No further action should be taken”. Some Conservatives are said to be furious. Actually I don’t blame them. Its perverse, which is one of the reasons I am appealing the decision.

This saga however is minor compared to some of the suffering that has occurred in the 3 years since the electoral system handed ultimate power in Hillingdon to a small cabal in the Conservative group. Since then they have:

1. Increased their personal take home pay by around 40%.

2. Closed down the young people’s outdoor centre in Wales.

3. Withdrawn grants from the Race Equality Council, the Law Centre and even Children’s Uniforms

4. Closed down the Swallows Gymnastics centre of excellence

5. Spent £400k on a new logo

6. Lost £20m of Hillingdon’s tax payers’ money in Iceland

7. Been castigated for the shoddy treatment of asylum seeking children

8. Have reduced eligibility criteria on benefits for handicapped children and the elderly

9. Forced through reactionary changes in the Council’s constitution limiting the rights of the opposition to speak

10. Introduced new higher grades of directors with large bonuses and pensions to do the job they get paid to do.

11. Decimated a lot of good quality middle ranking officers who wanted to get on and do a good job.

12. Failed to drag themselves off the bottom of the league table of London Councils. We now rank with Haringey as a 2 star authority.

I could go on. There are lots of other small individual examples of where this Conservative Council have corrupted the name of democracy, squandered the assets of the borough and threatened the livelihood of many residents and traders. If this is not worth fighting for, nothing is.

Please join me as we approach 2010 in what will be a fight to restore Hillingdon’s democracy, rebuild Hillingdon reputation and release the energy of local people to care for their neighbours and their environment.

We live in interesting times!

The fluctuations of the stock market, currencies, and oil prices have made the last few months a roller coaster to observers never mind those who work in these sectors. The greed and arrogance of a relatively small number of people who profited out of the naivety of others nearly brought the whole edifice of our financial system to its knees.

Such naivety even runs to Councils (of all political persuasions, but mostly Conservative) who saw fit to invest millions of our tax payers money in foreign bank accounts to earn a fraction extra interest. The first fiduciary duty of any Council should be to protect our assets. Investing our cash should be risk free activity yet in order to get our money back we have had to rely on Gordon Brown invoking anti terrorist legislation to seize Icelandic assets. Where will it all end? A recession I have no doubt. If the pundits are to be believed it will be a long and difficult one.

Such a recession should call for a radical rethink of what we as a Council do to help those most in need. At the last Council meeting in September I put forward a motion urging the Cabinet to do just that. Instead the motion was completely changed to give the Cabinet another pat on the back. They can do that they have the numbers!

The situation since then has become far worse. There are talented people on the Council from all parties and it is time petty differences were put aside and a genuine dialogue entered into as to how the Council can best serve the residents in these difficult times.

Hillingdon have lost two good councillors in the last few months. Norman Nunn-Price, the former leader of the Labour group and Solveig Stone, the former cabinet member for Education. The subsequent by elections which followed brought home to me the enormous value which many local people have for a good Councillor who has the time, the experience and the commitment to give to local residents. Irrespective of the party, residents value a pro active councillor and both these councillors qualified for this in abundance.

However the last few months has also seen the darker side of political life in Hillingdon. The saga of Ian Oakley, until a few weeks ago the Chair of our Residents Overview Committee, has been shocking even to those at the front line of the political battle. Oakley has pleaded GUILTY to five charges of criminal damage, two charges of harassment against Liberal Democrats in Watford, and asked for 68 other offences to be taken into account. He is due to be sentenced for his crimes in October.

When harsh words are exchanged in the political debate it is important that those involved see the others point of view as a legitimate expression. It must never resort to the sort of personal and criminal actions which were undertaken by Cllr Oakley. Too many times in Hillingdon the “gang culture” takes over and everything your opponents does or says is reviled. In reality as councillors we agree on 95% of the decisions which need to be taken. Let’s concentrate on electing good local councillors of all political persuasions who will work hard for the interests of local residents and the community we live in; not those who prefer the status, or the money for themselves or their party.

At last, Hillingdon Council tax payers have something positive to celebrate. The Labour government admitting, finally, that Hillingdon is a special case for the funding of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children is good news indeed.

A lot of work by council officers and councillors over the years has gone into negotiating a practical solution. Shortly after the 2006 election I accompanied the other two Hillingdon party leaders to put forward the case to the minister in charge. Despite Hillingdon Council losing their case in the courts common sense has finally prevailed. I agree with Cllr Puddifoot that special praise needs to be given to John McDonnell and Cllr Anthony Way for challenging their own party’s position so effectively.

The big question now must be what will Hillingdon do with the special windfall? Will we see some of the painful cuts in services reversed, will we see some of our potholed roads repaired or will the money be used just to bribe Tory voters ahead of the next local elections?

One candidate for enhanced funding should be the borough’s sports facilities. Not just the bricks and mortar of buildings but a proper competitive programme to push Hillingdon into the forefront of the preparations for 2012. After the fantastic achievements of Team GB in Beijing we have an opportunity over the next 4 years to make Hillingdon a centre of excellence and a beacon of achievement in sport. The Conservative administration now has the opportunity and the funds to save the Swallows gymnastics centre as a existing and strong base for sporting excellence in the borough. What’s stopping them?

Hillingdon Liberal Democrats have slammed the Conservative response to the Oakley affair as “weak, ineffectual and the height of double standards.”

After waiting more than 2 weeks, Cllr Ray Puddifoot has finally reported Cllr Oakley to the Standards Committee in an effort to be seen to be doing something

Mike Cox, leader of Hillingdon’s Lib dem group, said “This is simply too little too late. If Cllr Puddifoot wants us to believe that this is not just “putting on a show” he would have done it weeks ago. He would also have thrown him off his well paid job as Chair of an Overview Committee where Hillingdon Tax payers are paying him an EXTRA £20,000 a year on top of the £10,000 Councillor’s Allowance”

“The Conservative response has been weak, ineffectual and the height of double standards. There has been no action from Mr Cameron into his activities in Watford, there has been no action from Puddifoot into his status as a Chair of Scrutiny. The Conservative party are the kings of spin and the paupers of truth and democratic values.”

On a daily basis we get one horror story after another about the tragic consequences of knife crime. In the last week a young man was stabbed 3 times round the corner from where I live and another was violently attacked near the Grapes where I once lived.

There is outrage and despair in equal measure by politicians and the public. It’s too easy to come up with half baked populist measure to counter this problem. The fact is that the problem and therefore the solutions are more complex and deep rooted.

There is a London youth charity called the Kids Company founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh which does the some fantastic work with the most violent and problematic kids. She argues we are dealing with a public health issue NOT a criminal justice issue. These children lack parents who can provide social and emotional support. Emotional deprivation is a lethal weapon. Adrenalin rushes are used to counteract their fears.

One of the solutions her charity advocates is to provide non violent adrenalin rushes for the kids which enables them to channel their energies and frustrations into other areas. I have spent most of my working in and around Youth Sport. I have witnessed many children whose lives have been transformed by the physical exercise and competitive sport.

The London Borough of Hillingdon is accumulating a dreadful record for demolishing successful sports and activity centres who provide just the type of adrenalin rush young people need. Building a new long overdue swimming pool with a grant from Sport England is great but beware the consequences of closing a sports facility which its predecessor helped fund. Where I come from that could be biting the hand that feeds you.