Meet Gilbert and Lawrence, two very nice members of the Labour Party campaigning outside Palm 2 the other week against the government's public spending cuts. They were rallying support for the big TUC March For The Alternative on 26 March. Of course, there are a number of anti-cuts positions. I saw two very different ones being set out at the Town Hall the other week. One was our Labour Mayor and Council's regretful wielding of the scissors handed to them by Eric Pickles and the other was the "shove your scissors" position of the assorted Outer Left agitators in the public gallery.
Our very own Leabridge Councillors and three others had, for a while, lined up with the "shove your scissors" tendency but changed their minds. There is a problem with Councils defying government orders on spending that wasn't there in the past. If you break or ignore the Law you don't get surcharged or sent to jail. You just can't make a martyr of yourself these days. Instead, officers and men from the ministry set the budget for you. Not much of a victory. I wrote about Hackney's budget night for my Guardian London blog. If you've comments you'd like to make - no trolls, bores or abuse - I'd be very happy to publish them here.
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