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28 Phonebox Magazine | October 2024See you next monthDave%u2026 DEVELOPING AN INTERESTit any more than very few would argue that poorer pensioners don%u2019t. But there appears to be no consultation or planning.Then there is Sir Keir Starmer%u2019s %u2018gifts%u2019 received which appear to be someone paying for his spectacles, suits, holidays and his wife%u2019s clothing. Apart from the fact that a PM is fairly well paid, it does, perhaps more importantly, beg the question as to what the kind donator, Lord Alli, in this case, expects in return. It appears that Lord Alli was given a No 10 Downing Street Security Pass, which is given out to few. By all accounts, he%u2019s given it back now, but there is no doubt that he has more access to the PM than many close to the PM.For goodness sake, buy your own stuff like the rest of the population %u2013 including pensioners %u2013 have to. Get a grip. Don%u2019t send that daft beggar David Lammy out to make feeble excuses, it%u2019s not working.I guessed that Sir Keir Starmer was something of a gloomy sod, but his catchphrase of %u2018Things Can Only Get Worse%u2019 doesn%u2019t have the same ring about it as %u2018Things Can Only Get Better%u2019. That%u2019s probably why D: Ream didn%u2019t write a song about it.But then we have the Tories running about like headless chickens deciding on a new leader. A new leader who certainly won%u2019t be a Prime Minister, as they%u2019ll have to go through a good old bit of bloodletting before that happens. Locally we had James Cleverly, one of the candidates, up at The Robin Hood, Clifton Reynes, my local pub, opening up his campaign for the leadership. The strange thing is that they %u2013 the Tories %u2013 kept it secret. I was having Sunday lunch at the pub on the day (and it%u2019s excellent, let me tell you), and no sooner had Julie and I left, James Cleverly fetched up with a gaggle of clapping morons to have his photo taken in the garden surrounded by %u2018supporters%u2019.All political parties put their more sycophantic supporters through %u2018seal%u2019 training, where they learn to clap for treats. Although it should be pointed out that there is a slight diff erence. Seals are extremely intelligent and friendly.In theatre parlance we call them a %u2018Claque %u2018and they are people who are brought in to make a show look popular by applauding and whooping, and they are treated to a pint afterwards.If I were more egotistic, I may have thought that they%u2019d hidden James Cleverley in the pub cellar until I%u2019d gone, but my more charitable view is that they just didn%u2019t want the general public talking to him. Whichever way you look at it, politics doesn%u2019t look too transparent or open at present.It%u2019s enough to make you look at the Lib Dems %u2026 ok I%u2019m being a bit extreme there, but I am wondering if we were better off when Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson were up there. At least neither of them pretended to be normal.The Yardley Manor estate was promised a community centre, a children%u2019s play area plus some open space for a football pitch etc.As far as I can see %u2013 and this was under a Section 106 obligation %u2013 it was all supposed to be completed by September 2023.Then in March 2024, it was mooted that it would all start in May and would take eight months to complete.I visited the area yesterday and saw this:The play area and community centre building is up to the developer/builder, and it seems to me that they get the agreements to build the saleable houses and then do everything they can to go back on the community agreements.I stand by an article I wrote some months ago saying that they should build all the community assets fi rst before they are allowed to start building the housing developments.I believe the City Council are onto it now and I%u2019m also told that the one thing that MKCC have over them is that they %u2013 the developer/builder %u2013 are not allowed to build other new developments until this obligation has been met, but given MKCC are so hell bent on fi lling the area with houses one wonders how strictly this will be adhered to.As we know MKCC now have a Labour majority so there%u2019s no knowing what they might get up to given the new government leading the way on all manner of skullduggery.I usually give it six months before a new government get embroiled in some kind of scandal but this crowd have achieved it far quicker.Where do we start? It must be with the winter heating allowance brought in by Gordon Brown.This money snatch from some of the poorest pensioners is made more appalling by the fact that the government have given huge pay rises to their mates in the unions. Also, it appears that when this was mooted by the Tories in Theresa May%u2019s time, Angela Raynor and co had been attacking the Tories for even considering it. Quite rightly, but it doesn%u2019t look good now they%u2019ve nicked that very plan. Oh, and it seems that Rachel Reeves and no doubt many others can still claim money for their energy bills on their %u2018second%u2019 homes. I defy anyone to tell me they%u2019re not all the same now.They%u2019ve just released 1,700 prisoners early to free up cells. Some of them have already re-off ended and are back inside, and yet Huw Edwards managed to avoid going into one of the recently vacated cells. It%u2019s all a bit mad and not thought through in the same way as the Winter Fuel Allowance wasn%u2019t. Very few people would argue that rich pensioners need The last time I dared to criticise a developer in an article, the developer got a mate to write a letter into the Phonebox having a go at me by name. So here we go again.CMYCMMYCYCMYK