Meanwhile, recent reports set out a funding gap of £20.8m this year and a £117.1m shortfall in the next five years. PLUS news from the Rotten Boroughs of Essex, Croydon, Hounslow, Somerset, Westminster, and Cornwall in the new Eye.

We see this day in, day out, with rhetoric from the highest parts of Government basically saying Palestinians should shut up. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Hi @bristolgreenparty.bsky.social , please have all your cllrs read this about Bristol’s chief planning officer: templescenes.substack.com/p/who-is-bri... With power comes responsibility. It’s a shame I have to remind you.

These are valid matters of public concern which should have been debated in open session, not squirreled below the line at the first opportunity by the Chair. Any mitigations, or measures to minimise risk, should also have been discussed openly. This episode has done your administration no favours.

The unlawful code of conduct process he presided over for 5 years, his misconstruing of the Localism Act, the 3-year FOI backlog, the backlog of 561 SARs as of March 2024, and his unsuccessful appeal of the ICO enforcement notice, are all matters of stone-cold fact, not "trial by social media".

The @bristolgreenparty.bsky.social refused to investigate this appalling behaviour by the Labour administration, once they were in power. It took nearly two years of public pressure. The Greens are very happy to team up with Labour though. Godwin was part of the spying administration.

Bristol City Council officer, July 2022: "Other members of the team regularly flag comments/social posts on SEND ... Chopsy's [i.e. Jen Smith's] posts are regularly flagged for me ..."

Indeed .... O'Gara & Rollason said in their 2022 report there was "no evidence of systematic monitoring", & that the spying took place on just 2 occasions. But resident Jen Smith's evidenced TWELVE occasions where her social media alone was surveilled ... www.bristolsendspying.com/was-it-syste...

Respect to Cllr Jo Clements for defying the Lib Dem whip and abstaining - along with nine others, mainly from independent groups. One vote against. Needless to say the mics and the £300,000 electronic voting system strangely failed to work at this meeting, the latter for the first time ever.

Meanwhile, revised political balance paper has Cllr Joe Salmon replacing Cllr Armstrong on the Audit and Governance Committee, and there was no objection to three code of conduct cheats being placed on the Investigatory and Disciplinary Committee, thus undermining it before it even meets.

"Hands up if you're going to lose your seat in 2027!" BCP Lib Dem and Labour councillors - and John Beesley - vote to improve Bristol City Council's governance by appointing Tim O'Gara as BCP's monitoring officer. This followed 1 hour 16 minutes' debate, all of it in private session.

Disgusting it was behind closed doors, & disgusting that not one of the 60 councillors present (because 16 didn't turn up - including 3 Cabinet members) didn't argue with the chair when she autocratically said "We're going into exempt session." Voting was almost as I predicted, they're 90% gutless.

No or Labour, though the latter are compromised because much of the corruption at Bristol went on under their last Mayor - Marvin Rees, who is now a Labour peer. His emails mysteriously evaporated the day after he left office.

It is probably worth pointing out to Britons that the immigration proposals now being made in the UK by parties like Reform are far more extreme than anything even Trump has suggested in the US, and Labour has not only miserably failed to oppose them but has actively egged them on.

Looking like the exemption WILL be challenged though. Received 4 replies to my email: one from a Conservative member, who is bang on top of the issues; one from a LD ("Tonight's group meeting should be fun!"); one from an LD sycophant; and one Independent ("I read your email with interest").

Nor does he address a query about the Section 10 Schedule 12A public interest test, & whether councillors can disapply the exemption. (Mr O'Gara's career summary has bizarrely been classed as "exempt" by officers; a cynic would say this was done to ensure debate takes place behind closed doors ...)

CEO also refers to "untested allegations and opinion", but doesn't expound on: ongoing inquiry into SEND spying; 3-year FOI backlog; similar SAR backlog (561 outstanding SARs at March 2024!); unlawful code of conduct process; unsuccessful ICO appeal. All matters of fact / regulatory determination.

So - my email about Item 7 at tonight's Council was referred to the BCP CEO, who emailed all cllrs yesterday. Says the MO recruitment process was in line with the Constitution, & supported by Penna PLC; that pre-appointment checks were carried out, incl references; no change to the recommendation.

Could Farage be forced into a by-election? Two investigations into his undeclared £5m gift. The Electoral Commission Parliamentary Standards Commissioner If as result, he is suspended from the Commons for 10+sitting days, petition signed by 10% of constituents can trigger Recall and a by-election.

Great article documenting the humiliating demise of Steve Reed's Lambeth Labour mafia /ht doctoriaindarcy at the bad place. www.brixtonbuzz.com/2026/05/made...

An independent report from a barrister into spying by council officers on SEND parents is imminent in Bristol. It may not be good for O'Gara who gave the officers a clean bill of health after a farcical internal investigation concluded systematic access of parents' social media was not systematic.

I find it very hard to believe that officers would spy on disabled children's families' social media accounts and NOT ask the MO if it was actually lawful to do so. My email to BCP councillors has been "escalated" to the CEO apparently, so it sounds like members here are also looking for answers ...

1/4 ...It occurred to me a while back that somebody, say a moderate, practising Anglican with a background in historical research, could use Cox's series of church handbooks as a means of deepening their knowledge about their own Church's history, especially its physical fabric. They could then...

If you want answers to your toughest questions about the SEND reform proposals, then join SNJ's Wednesday night free webinar with Georgia Gould 13th May 7-8pm. Chat and Q&A open to all. Register: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... Ask questions: www.specialneedsjungle.com/send-webinar...

Huge pity seeing Cllrs Joe and Kate Salmon resign from the Green group on BCP. Wonder if this means tomorrow night's political balance paper could be deferred; which could also allow Cllrs Adams, Dove & Butt (all code of conduct cheats) to be removed from the Investigatory & Disciplinary Committee.

It gets worse though, Steve - tomorrow night's paper recommends adding Cllr Cameron Adams to said Committee, despite the EIGHT complaints upheld against him for bullying, disreputable conduct, and failing to comply with disciplinary sanctions. I couldn't believe it when I saw it ....

The Investigatory and Disciplinary Committee is the most serious committee on BCP: it investigates complaints about statutory officers & can recommend their dismissal. So having 3 councillors on this 7-strong committee who are in deliberate breach of sanctions for their own misconduct, is laughable.

Well, no. There is an internal report, which we're not allowed to see. www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/step... The Greens completely failed to take any action on this, and then a new Labour chair of the Audit committee just announced "it is all settled".

Did the £54,000 loan to the deputy mayor's mate's CIC (laundered through the Council waste company) ever get properly investigated? I didn't know about the £1.35 million gift of land, YE IMMORTAL GODS ... (Luckily we have ex-mayor Marvin Rees' emails to provide a useful audit trail, oh wait)

I noticed too that the selection panel's decision was a "majority" one (not "unanimous"), so perhaps some of the panellists read more widely. Council papers & livestream are here, hopefully the above matters will get properly thrashed about in the debate. democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListDocume...

... Finally, SOMEWHAT irked at the governance of the actual meeting; public participation not allowed, MO's appointment tacked on to "Annual Council" (which is normally just the election of the Council chair & vice-chair). Mr O'Gara's career summary marked "exempt", probably to keep debate private!

I've included these, plus other, widely-documented governance concerns, in an email to all 76 BCP councillors sent at 12.04pm today. Incidentally BCP is due a review of its own code of conduct complaints process (WAY overdue, with 5 councillors now in deliberate breach of disciplinary sanctions) ...

This breached Section 28(8)(c)(iii) of the Localism Act 2011, whereby the appointment of an IP must be ratified by full Council, yet O'Gara denied the law had been broken when this was pointed out to him in 2023. His statement below to the Values & Ethics Sub-Committee was blatantly untrue.

VERY few complaints about councillors made it past the initial sift on O'Gara's watch (and none were upheld) but, where a complaint was taken forward, O'Gara and his legal colleague would hire independent persons from neighbouring authorities to assist with the investigative process.

If O’Gara is going to BCP for a quieter life, he will be surely (and sorely!) disappointed. In Bristol he presided over several conflicts of interest with labour. Marvin Rees gave land worth £1.35m to his gym for free and the MO refused to even investigate a complaint about lack of declaration.

O'Gara was in the news last year for appealing an ICO enforcement notice re the shocking FOI response times at Bristol; the appeal, which failed outright, was lodged minus any consultation with councillors. O'Gara was called out for it by the Audit Committee. www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

It was O'Gara too who presided, for five years (2018-23), over an unlawful councillor complaints process at Bristol, initiated by one of his predecessors. The "independent person" on the Council's Values and Ethics Sub-Committee died in 2014 and wasn't replaced for nine years ...

At the BIC for the count for the Broadstone, Poole and Bournemouth Town Council elections .... Long faces, VERY large Reform turnout. First results being announced. Overall turnout per authority: Broadstone Town Council 49.77%, Poole Town Council 37.35%, Bournemouth Town Council 34.13%.

Bournemouth Town Council "contact us" page manages to misspell "Bournemouth" in its email address. I know some Reform voters have literacy problems, but this takes the piss ... www.bournemouth-tc.gov.uk/contact-us

Did you watch Dirty Business? I can't believe how much water companies have gotten away with. They're putting profit before public health - it’s a scandal and the Government MUST take action! Sick of sewage? Add your name to the petition today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/en...

To be fair our ex city Mayor (Labour) Marvin Rees banned journalists from asking questions while he was in office. Whilst I doubt the abilities of most Reform candidates, local elections seem to be a can of worms. @stillawake17.bsky.social

And @stillawake17.bsky.social has an FOI request in for the project reports during the project - I doubt they are ever going to be handed over. www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/prov...

Bristol, facing a multi-million funding shortfall, is stumping up another £2m for an already over-budget, overdue housing IT project. The Green-led council has agreed a £10m price tag for the scheme which will be ready in March 2027 – despite an original £7.5m bill and completion date of Dec 2024.

@robbryher.bsky.social @stillawake17.bsky.social The printer in St. George Library has been out of operation since last Wed. Someone just came in to use the printer but couldn't & was redirected to Fishponds. I'm going to have to go to my mother's home in Bedminster tonight to get my printing.

@stillawake17.bsky.social @petemarchetto.bsky.social The writing was on the wall when Tony Dyer authorised the deletion of Marvin Rees’s potentially incriminating emails. #NoTransparency #NoAccountability www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/emails-former-bristol-mayor-marvin-9623859

Brabazon gets a mention @stillawake17.bsky.social

@stillawake17.bsky.social - fyi apparently 8 inspectors turned up the day after the MP wasn't allowed in.