A storm in a sh...t hole

From Barnet Alliance for Public Service newsletter:

THE story of the past week was how Cllr. Rams banned our invitation for A Tale of Two Barnets from display in the libraries, and how within 24 hours we caused him to back down under public pressure.


Why did Cllr Rams ban it? Because one of the quotes on the leaflet, by one of our members who is learning disabled, had spelt out his feelings about the council: “As a user of social services my view is that Barnet councillors don't give a sh...t about disabled people...”. This “sh...t”, with the triple dots included, was the official reason for the banning.

The real reason, I guess, was another quote from another resident: “All over the country citizens have stopped inept and corrupt councils selling off their life-preserving services to profiteering, tax-avoiding multinational speculators. We can do it here.”

Soon enough, after a little storm arose which included press releases, interviews and of course the bloggers, even Rams understood that foul play makes him stink, and he dropped the issue. Or so he said, because not all the librarians received the amended instructions that allow now the posters to be posted on the libraries' notice boards.

However, Cllr. Coleman still has an issue with sh...t holes. Recently the public toilets in Victoria Park were locked and a note came up on the doors (both Ladies and Gents): “Due to anti social behaviour these toilets have had to be closed until further notice”.

A quick check revealed that the “anti social behaviour” was clogging the toilets with newspapers.

Now follow the logic: The park warden gone – the service is about to be outsourced and in the mean time our John has to divide his working hours between several parks. This is very unfortunate for us, Victoria Park's users, because he was the person who maintained the toilets and made sure there is toilet papers in them. So what should the unfortunate citizen do when having to use the loo and being caught without toilet paper? He or she uses the services of News International; only there's a limit to the amount of bullshit that even public toilets can absorb...

Yes, even our sh...t holes carries a political message: You cannot entrust Coleman with a toilet roll – do you really want him in the GLA?