50% Increase In Skegness Town Council Tax?

I am reliably informed that after a local survey there is a majority of Skegness residents that believe it is okay to increase the Council Tax by 50% and they would be prepared to pay it!

Through the roof in Skegness?

If it is correct that people in Skegness are happy to support such a rise then I am dumbfounded. If that was to happen and then combine that with the increases that are inevitable relating to the share of the council tax from East Lindsey District Council, Lincolnshire County Council and the Police Authority it would put a great deal of financial pressure on an awful lot of people within the Skegness Town Council area.

Going back to the survey, where can I see the results of this survey? Is there an online presentation of the results?

I would love to see that I am in the minority by not wishing to see such a ridiculous and draconian increase.

Just out of interest. I don't know if you are aware that Skegness Town Council voted through a 23.6% increase in its share of council tax last week, so it appears they have taken the results of the survey to heart!

Dig deep people of Skegness!

Impulse Buys

Okay so they got me. I am normally not one for impulse buys, being a little "careful" with my money but I fell for this one.

Went into Lidl and saw them. For some reason I just couldn't resist. No idea why. They were an absolute bargain though. Perhaps that was the only reason? Who knows.

Just how long is it going to take me to eat twelve dozen Weetabix, that is 144 for the uninitiated. Think I will probably look like a Weetabix by the time I have finished.

Junior Doctor's Strike - Just Wrong

So they have been and gone and done it. The junior doctors have gone on strike. Why? Apparently, because changes the government wish to make will put patients at risk. Really? Will those changes put patients as much at risk as there being no doctors available to see sick people in hospital? If the answer to that is yes then they may have a point. Obviously, it is no.

Thousands of appointments have been cancelled today. That is going to mean that patients who need to be seen are not going to be seen. Patients referred to Secondary Care by their GPs who may have waited weeks to be seen at hospital will now not be seen and will have to wait weeks to get another appointment. Patients put at risk? You decide.

What this is really about is money and not working more weekends than happens at the moment. Junior doctors will tell you they will work more hours whilst at the same time the maximum working week for junior doctors will reduce from 91 hours a week at present to 72 hours. I have heard that there will be a 30% reduction in earnings for these junior doctors. That has been debunked. Yes there will be a reduction in unsocial hours payments but there will also be an 11% pay rise on basic pay. That will mean that the basic salary for the most junior doctors just starting in hospitals will be above £25,000 a year plus the benefits. In the second year that will be well over £30,000.

More doctors working at weekends is essential to provide a 7 day a week Secondary Care system that is safe. At the moment that is not the case. At this time, for a patient arriving in hospital on a Saturday or Sunday there is a 15% greater chance that they will die. Is that really what we want to see?

The British Medical Association (BMA) have pressed the nuclear button here. If this series of strikes, yes there are 3 planned at the moment so patients keep your fingers crossed, does not work; what then? Longer strikes? More patients lives put at risk? Where does the BMA go from here in regard to this? I think we, as the people that pay for the NHS, should be really worried. Will the hardliners at the BMA be prepared to back down? Will they put the patients first as all medical professionals are required to do? Interesting questions.

Having worked within the NHS for 9 years, I have huge respect for the medical profession at all levels but in this case I think the BMA and the junior doctors who are walking out of hospitals and GP surgeries are completely wrong to do so. They ARE putting patients at risk. There is no doubt about that. In the end that should be the most important consideration.

There should be further negotiation with the government regarding all of this. So come on you healers, you savers of life and reducers of suffering. Do it now. For the patients.

Blue Denim Platform Boots

Today is such a sad day. I have heard of the death of one of my all time musical heroes, the genius that is David Bowie.

When he came along in the early 70s he completely changed my musical tastes. For me, there has never been nor ever will be a musician that has changed and shaped popular music more dramatically or emphatically. His influence has been there for all to see for the past four decades and it will continue to be there for years to come.

I really got into him in 1972 with the release of the Ziggy Stardust album. I was fascinated by this strange exotic creature, both his look and his music. At the same time I joined the Army which was just about as far from Ziggy as could possibly be.

Then came along Aladdin Sane album the cover of which completely blew me away.

By now, of course, my once shoulder length hair had been converted to a short back and all over and my loon pants, my favourite pair were maroon down to the knee and then green down to the cuffs, had been replaced with Levi jeans, taking me further away from the Bowie image that I found so fascinating.








The release of Diamond Dogs in 1974 coincided with me being posted to Cyprus. The cover of Diamond Dogs was considered more outrageous and exotic than those that had gone before. To me just the more fascinating.

Taking a trip out to Larnaca just after the invasion of the island had occurred in the same year, I saw a fantastic pair of blue denim platform soled boots in a shop window. Bowie boots! On impulse I went in and bought them in an extremely expensive transaction. Why? I had no idea. Could I wear them? Something that outlandish? As a squaddie, really? No. Just wasn't done. So I put them in my locker and they never saw serious action on my feet. I had them for years and never wore them.





Now the icon has left us. David Bowie is no more. He has left his legacy in his music and in the wider issue of "culture". He will be long remembered. Do I still have my blue denim platform boots? Sadly no. They went a long time ago. I cannot remember when or why. Today they come back to my mind. How I wish I had the nerve to wear them when I had the chance.

2016 - Build The New & Preserve The Old In Skegness

Build the new and preserve the old, that should be the mantra for 2016. Build the new, The Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre Restaurant on Pier Field and preserve the old, The Pavilion in Tower Gardens. Both of these projects have been rumbling on long enough and should now be resolved. Lot's of people have had their say in lots of ways and it is now time to put that behind us.

Of the two projects, the easiest one to bring to fruition will be The Premier Inn development. It will bring new investment into the town to the tune of £7.5 million and will bring much needed all year round employment. In addition, I believe that it will attract a new clientele to the town and the very fact that an international company such as Whitbreads, the owners of Premier Inn, are showing such faith in Skegness will encourage more large companies to do the same. The recently announced Travelodge interest is testament to that. In my view the case has been made and this should now go smoothly forward to allow the construction of the development to begin so that the new businesses can open in 2018. 

The Pavilion in Tower Gardens is a whole different proposition. Although the present effort to save this building has been running for nearly two years, the end of the saga appears to still be some way off. Two things need to be achieved to allow this project to go forward. Firstly, there needs to be a professional, solid, workable and viable business plan that will ensure that the building will be a real proposition going forward for many years. The £50,000 of funding that has been achieved via the

The Pavilion as it stands now.

Coastal Revival Fund should allow that to happen and should be a huge boost in driving the project forward. It is hoped that the subsequent business plan will be acceptable to East Lindsey District Council and that it will allow them to release the building to the community. Once that has happened then the next challenge, a huge one in my opinion, will be to access funds for the renovation of the building to allow occupation and use of it. Various, wildly differing, sums have been put forward regarding the cost of doing that but whatever the actual confirmed cost, raising the monies required will be exceptionally difficult, not impossible, but exceptionally difficult. Hats off to the community group that is battling away to bring The Pavilion back to life. I hope that 2016 will finally bring this to fruition. 

So 2016 could bring new life to the town and resurrect old life. Would that not be a great outcome?