Wife, mother & GM, with a can do attitude, enjoys a good belly laugh as much as a serious debate....... 💙💙💙 @spsa.bsky.social
Joined June 2013
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Simone retweeted
I recently sent an FOI to Manchester City Council regarding the council's work or meetings with the Abu Dhabi United Group and various personnel associated.
The email has just come back — all refused.
They claim that my request is:
Manifestly unreasonable (Regulation 12(4)(b)).
Very interesting indeed to have the entire FOI rejected by their senior lawyer, Daniel Howard.
Does anyone with more detailed knowledge in this field fancy pitching in with ideas on why this might be the case?
I've had sections refused in the past and others where the work overran the cost. But never an email from a senior lawyer with an outright refusal.
Simone retweeted
Labour are not honouring manifesto commitments on Climate.
All part of the coup.
Burnham says one thing and does another.
Just like at Makerfield and his Mayorship.
He broke his promise then, to the NEC promising not to derail Gov, and now to us as voters. @SkyNews
Simone retweeted
I used to jump to the defense of @UKLabour politicians when my friends said all MPs were the same. I now have to concede that they were right. @andyburnham
The £1m 'secret payments 💸
An MEN investigation uncovers how Greater Manchester Combined Authority handed nearly £1m of public money to anonymous payees - including a £210,000 developer grant blamed on "human error" and thousands in rent paid to a hidden landlord.
We trawled through hundreds of payments since 2024 and discovered a combined total of nearly £1m has gone to anonymous beneficiaries over the last three years
manchestereveningnews.co.uk/…
Simone retweeted
It was a great week for Us Labours. Our Ed & the PM dazzled onlookers with their steel drum skills, Lisa Nandy did a cracking job on the rememberence day media rounds & Phones4Lou gave us a PMQs masterclass. But our Ang is having none of the haters! #parody
Simone retweeted
Is it the coup starting to make sense now? MPs didn't like it when @Keir_Starmer told them to do their jobs and deliver for the people. @andyburnham's lot seem incapable so they're giving taxpayers' money to consultants to do their jobs. It stinks! 🤬
This is just so, so, so bleak.
The development of big chunks of Burnham's much vaunted Ten Year Plan have been outsourced to the Boston Consulting Group, one of the world's three biggest management consultancies.
Most recently, BCG was revealed to be a contractor in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - the wretched private organisation that was created to deliver aid to Gaza after the destruction of UNWRA. You may remember the scenes of starving Gazans flooding into gated pens to get food, with civilians repeatedly sniped by the IDF. BCG were paid $1m/ month for their consulting work.
BCG also received $4m for Project Aurora - a plan for a reconstruction plan for Gaza. The plan included costing giving Gazans $9000 to leave the territory.
How is the government even considering contracting BCG considering this?
But BCG also partners with the world's biggest private equity firms. It is a massive, massive AI booster. It closely advises MBS in Saudi Arabia on its economic plans.
It is, in other words, precisely the sort of late-capitalist horror show that should have no role in helping a nominally socialist Party develop a 10-year development plan.
There is already so much worrying briefing on this plan, about how half-baked and thin it threatens to be. Now we know big parts are being outsourced to BCG, the more pressing concern is that it'll be some Tony Blair Institute-style neo-liberal spiel about the potential of tech and the need to liberate the market.
Simone retweeted
You may well ask
🚨Who is Manchester City Council Protecting When It Hides Emails from Elected Councillors?
Manchester City Council redirected a resident’s emails about public loans to Abu Dhabi-linked developers directly to its solicitor. At least one councillor never received the messages and was not informed they existed.
The correspondence concerned roughly £55 million approved while Andy Burnham chaired Greater Manchester Combined Authority meetings. The loans went to companies controlled by Sheikh Mansour’s group for developments that included no affordable housing. The money has since been repaid.
The council states it acted in response to possible legal action. However, the same team previously requested that emails from the same individual be blocked months before any formal legal letter arrived.
When elected representatives are denied access to correspondence questioning the use of public funds, a clear question arises: whose interests are being protected?
Simone retweeted
REMINDER - OCT 1
Starmer and his negotiators and officials knew what they were doing.
They had already "informally" asked the right questions...including losing the rebate if rejoined
Burnham sacked the experienced negotiating team out of spite and look where it's landed him.
Simone retweeted
The most significant comment I’ve seen on this contentious issue.
Simone retweeted
Prime Starmer destroying Johnson. Unbelievable Labour replaced him with a Johnson carbon copy!
youtu.be/y2D0ak0__e8?is=hXsQ…
Simone retweeted
"It's a very heavy burden for her."
Royal commentator Jennie Bond says there will be a "great deal more sympathy" for the Duchess of Sussex following Thomas Markle's arrest. Her father has previously denied all allegations.
trib.al/iZ7HA39
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602
Simone retweeted
NUMBER 10 NORTH!!
Just went through the Civil Service jobs page for roles at for No10 North. 47 roles being advertised. Total salaries £2889908. This is without any pensions, expenses etc. TWO MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND EIGHT POUNDS!!
Simone retweeted
Healey celebrates his duff Budget - by downing a pint in one and sticking it upside down on his head
Then for good measure adds 3p on a pint and 18p on a bottle of wine.
Beer up 3p a pint — and wine by 18p a bottle — after 'record booze tax hike' mirror.co.uk/money/budget-20…
Simone retweeted
The irony that Keir Starmer is to be paid big sums to give speeches.
Shouldn’t be lost on the idiots who kept saying he can’t speak, can’t tell a story, can’t bring the public with him.
He could always speak, you chose not to listen.
Ousted for no good reason.
