Food For Thought.

[J.R.]

This was sent to Jan this afternoon. - Quite thought provoking !

A maverick mayor elected after promising to slash council spending, clear the streets of yobs and ditch politically correct services is the torchbearer for how towns should be run.

On his first morning as Mayor of Doncaster in South Yorkshire , Peter Davies cut his salary from £73,000 to £30,000 then closed the council's newspaper for "peddling politics on the rates".

Now three weeks into his job, Mr Davies is pressing ahead with plans he hopes will see the number of town councillors cut from 63 to just 21, saving taxpayers £800,000.

Mr Davies said: "If 100 senators can run the United States of America , I can't see how 63 councillors are needed to run Doncaster ".

He has withdrawn Doncaster from the Local Government Association and the Local Government Information Unit, saving another £200,000. Mr Davies said, "They are just talking shops".

" Doncaster is in for some serious untwinning. We are twinned with probably nine other cities around the world and they are just for people to fly off and have a binge at the council's expense".

The mayor's chauffeur-driven car has also been axed by Mr Davies and the driver given another job.

Mr Davies, born and bred in Doncaster , swept to power in the May election with 24,244 votes as a candidate for the English Democrats, a party that wants tight immigration curbs, an English Parliament and a law forcing every public building to fly the flag of St. George.

He has promised to end council funding for Doncaster 's International Women's Day, Black History Month and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month.

He said, "Politicians have got completely out of touch with what people want. We need to cut costs. I want to pass on some savings I make in reduced taxes and use the rest for things we really need, like improved children's services".

Mr Davies has received messages from well wishers across the country and abroad as news of his no-nonsense approach spreads.

Now it's your chance to spread this most sensible way to run a town council. At last Common Sense is with us!

[midget]

I hope the morons of the equalitty industry don't go gunning for him!

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

I dare not comment ------- But at least I am no longer required to declare a "Self Interest"

[dinahcat]

I saw him on TV a while ago . He is quite a force to be reckoned with.

[Richard Ruck]

....and a law forcing every public building to fly the flag of St. George.

Why?

[Vièr Bliu]

Mr Davies said: "If 100 senators can run the United States of America , I can't see how 63 councillors are needed to run Doncaster ".

Of course 100 senators don't run the US - a comparison of elected officials by number that is as silly as most of these things are.

But let's look at some demographics: the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster has a population of 291,000 and elects a mayor, 63 councillors, MPs and part of an MEP (if I've got that correct).

Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada, elects a total of 566 officials to represent its population of 135,851.

On the other hand, if the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster was a US city, it would rank as number 63 by population, between Toledo, Ohio, and Stockton, California. Toledo, with a population of just over 293,000, is run by a mayor and a council of 12. Stockton, with a population of 287,000, is run by a mayor and a council of 6. (My research hasn't gone so far as to check whether there are neighbourhood councils within these cities, though).

If Doncaster was a French city, it would sit by population between Nantes and Nice (Doncaster: the Nice of the North!). With a population of 347,000, Nice is administered by a mayor and 69 councillors. Nantes is more complicated: the city proper, with its population of 269,343, is administered by a mayor and 65 councillors; however Nantes is part of a métropole which is administered in turn by a council of 113 and a bureau of 44, nominated by the elected officials of its constituent municipalities.

But further, if the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster was a French département, it would rank at number 77 by population between Orne (population 292,337; 40 conseillers généraux) and Ardennes (population 290,130; 37 conseillers généraux).

Playing with comparisons of elected officials can be fun, but is usually as unenlightening as comparing apples and oranges. We have this argument constantly in Jersey with our parliament of 53 elected members for a population of allegedly under 100,000 - depending on which comparison is chosen, we can be either grotesquely top-heavy with elected representatives or subject to unrepresentative rule by a minuscule clique.

[sejintenej]

Mr Davies said: "If 100 senators can run the United States of America , I can't see how 63 councillors are needed to run Doncaster ".

But further, if the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster was a French département, it would rank at number 77 by population between Orne (population 292,337; 40 conseillers généraux) and Ardennes (population 290,130; 37 conseillers généraux).

Playing with comparisons of elected officials can be fun, but is usually as unenlightening as comparing apples and oranges. We have this argument constantly in Jersey with our parliament of 53 elected members for a population of allegedly under 100,000 - depending on which comparison is chosen, we can be either grotesquely top-heavy with elected representatives or subject to unrepresentative rule by a minuscule clique.

Whilst I appreciate your US statistics (and make no comment on the Canadian one, I do feel that the inclusion of a French town / city comparison could be misleading. We are generally grossly over-controlled to an extent that people in Britain probably could not comprehend and most if not all the jobs are controlled by elected officials.
A town or village mayor has very wide powers and, because of that needs a strong team. I give an example of a local village where the mayor has full control of all planning and building permissions, marriages, mediation in disagreements between families, running the local sports club (he's a cycling nut), the village town hall and also the village hall. My friend, the deputy mayor, is responsible for education (he actually liaises with his opposite numbers in 4 other villages to run a primary school serving those villages - including the provision of lunches- and is part of another group with different villages covering the next school age), he is responsible for ensuring that there is transport to take the children to school, he is responsible with opposite numbers for employing a handy-man who does all the public works, he is responsible for contracts for bigger public works, the village forests ............................... Those two are some of the nine councillors in a village of about 42 people! Imagine the work loads in each sector in a larger community.
Rennes? well, as "capital" of the area it has extra responsibilities - even the head of the Chamber of Commerce is / used to be elected, and he even has to run a shipping line - I think the airline was closed down!

Departements (I can't do accents) cover multiple "areas" (I don't even know the French word, only that I am in the Quercorb), groupements des communes - (Chalabrais in my case), communes and hameaus each on which has increasing powers as they go up that scale and of course have to be "advised" by the department representatives etc. Then of course they have to work with Regions, then Paris ....... However the work is done at lower levels so I don't think that the inclusion of departements is relevent here. As for your Jersey situation I have no idea of how you are governed but if your top people can cut down on un-necessary expenditure as illustrated, good for them.

In the UK and I suspect the US there is a large civil service which takes control, makes decisions and runs things - not so much in France.

[Vièr Bliu]

I do feel that the inclusion of a French town / city comparison could be misleading.

And my point was that such comparisons are (and usually are intended to be) misleading. The mayor of Doncaster's policy is to reduce the number of councillors, so therefore he chooses a ludicrous comparison with the US Senate. If his policy was to increase the number of councillors, he could with equal justification have chosen a ludicrous comparison with a French commune (or communauté de communes).

As a metropolitan borough in England, Doncaster is the next level of elected government below the central UK government, so, if one was minded to use the statistics in that way, one could claim that a département was a legitimate comparison to bolster one's case.

Of course, as I said, most such comparisons are silly. Doncaster might or might not be better administered with fewer councillors, but international comparisons of proportions of elected officials by population provide no evidence one way or another - especially if one disregards whether the officials are full-time or part-time.

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

I just lost interest !

Lies, dam' lies, and statistics !