When a society destroys its libraries, you know there is something very sick at he heart of that society.
Lincolnshire County Council is planning what amounts to little more than wanton vandalism of its libraries. The county has seen nothing like this, not since the Vikings and Henry VIII ransacked the monasteries and destroyed centres of learning.
Why, because a bunch of Philistine councillors having decided libraries are not needed. Austerity, an excuses for Shock Doctrine, slash and burn of public services.
Lincoln saw its biggest ever demonstration, but those who took to the streets, were treated with arrogant contempt by county councillors.
It is not only Lincolnshire, where corrupt councillors and officials, in the pocket of Big Business and greedy developers, are failing to act for local communities.
- Destruction of old brewery in Ulverston
- East Street development in Farnham
- proposed destruction of Sincil Street in Lincoln
- attempts to demolish former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at Hindhead
- demolition of c 1720s Tumbledown Dick for a Drive-Thru McDonald’s in Farnborough
- Westgate aka Wastegate on edge of Aldershot town centre
- Costa in Totnes
People have had enough.
If nothing else, this illustrates why we need the right of recall, not just for Members of Parliament, but also local and county councillors, who are failing to act in the best interest of their local communities.
Those who will suffer most, are kids from poor backgrounds, who have no books in the house, where they have no safe place to study at home.
This is the council that wastes money on shipping its staff around Lincoln in taxis because they are too bone idle to walk. Their excuse is it is not safe, they have a duty of care. Would a commercial organisation waste money on taxi fares for its staff to travel across the town centre? We know the answer would be no. Not safe? Not safe from what? Are they going to be mugged, run down? Maybe they will encounter angry local taxpayers. The council is responsible for both policing and road safety. A good turn off for tourists, do not come to Lincoln, its streets are not safe.
Cost cutting does not of course extend as far as councillors, who are only too happy to get their snouts in the trough.
Lincolnshire actually has a budget underspend of £40 million.
Lincoln Yellow bellies, are not taking this lying down. They are crowd funding to raise the necessary money to file a Judicial Review. Please support their fund raising.
Meanwhile tax dodgers Starbucks, Vodafone et al are laughing all the way to their offshore tax havens.
This coming Saturday, UK Uncut plan to occupy Vodafone in protest at their tax dodging. UK Uncut put the figure at £6 billion. A recent Private Eye report puts the figure much higher, ten times as much.
Tax dodging and austerity are two sides of the same coin.
Those fighting the Lincolnshire library closures, should ensure every single Vodafone shop in the county is occupied on Saturday. And spread the word.
Tags: closure of Lincolnshire libraries, library closures, Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire County Council, Lincolnshire Libraries
June 10, 2014 at 2:46 pm |
Save Lincolnshire Libraries campaign get £1,000 legal costs donation
http://www.sleafordtarget.co.uk/Save-Lincolnshire-Libraries-campaign-1-000-legal/story-21186453-detail/story.html
June 10, 2014 at 8:26 pm |