dazzle some folk with a few nights of "pretty lights" & cut useful services.. hmm ok, "Lumiere"

.....................................

Westminster council spends £90,000 on Rolls-Royce while axing children's services

Conservative-controlled Westminster council has spent thousands of pounds on a fleet of luxury limos but is axing childcare
Westminster council in London spent £90,000 on a Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph for the Mayor and other local bigwigs.

It has also splashed out nearly £30,000 in the last three years on leasing a top-of-the-range Audi for council use.

The council spent £11,800 last year on the upkeep, congestion charge fees and fuel costs for the two chauffeur-driven vehicles.

The details, released under a Freedom of Information request, came as the local authority is set to axe nearly 50 play workers and support staff as part of cuts to youth services.

The staff, who provide after school activities for hundreds of children, could lose their jobs under plans to save £320,000 over the next two years from the Children’s Centres, Youth Provision and Play Provision budgets.

Labour MP Karen Buck said the council had got its priorities wrong.

She said: “They pay £160,000 on private health care for senior staff and can find cash for a Rolls Royce.

“Meanwhile they are consulting right now on slashing children’s centres, ending their school-based childcare and withdrawing from running a youth service. They need to think again.”

The Westminster North MP added: “Other councils are doing far better at protecting their children’s and youth services. This is also a question of priorities.

“Spending tens of thousands on chauffeured cars and on private health care for senior staff cannot be justified while children’s centres are closing, school-age childcare being ended and most funding being withdrawn from the youth service.”

Nathan, :stuck_out_tongue: ..the reality still being more cuts, people like you Nathan put the N in cuts old son, still as long as you are warm fed & watered right!?

childcare, allowing many breadline Londoners to work a few more hours, giving children a cooling down after hot housing at school, providing snacks where they may otherwise not get anything essential to diet, integration, playing alongside others & being accepting of of cultural differences which may make the big difference within a community as to how it rubs along or snuffs others out.

..or a few nights of pretty lights.

Went last night and thought it was superb. There are over 30 different artworks so of course some are more impressive than others. I thought the best were the ones around Piccadilly and Regent Street. The flying fish on Piccadilly are stunning - the floating people on St James' Sq are beautiful and the animated stick figures on Regent Street were brilliant.

Going to check out the Kings Cross ones tonight.

That looks really nice and artistic. really.

Guess that makes the rest of us here birds then

You sad, sad man.

Ps I do peppers ghost, multiple projections, smoke, light & animations, animatronics, public displays of art with vegetables, incorporate set pieces with actors etc ...it's called halloween

can I have public funding too!?

Don't be an ignorant horses @rse ! the reason I say this is because it may turn up as a sledgehammer in terms of costs, that it is good to know the price of beforehand, & does it go on the new set of community charge bills or has it already been paid for!? ,...do you have a big old cup of coffee at a hotel without knowing the cost beforehand!?, highly unlikely ..bearing in mind how many services are being slashed to ribbons, services restricted by 40 % to "save money" imposed by government ..you have to be a right t1t not to query the costing & what it'd pay to keep open that really matters.

Just one little grant provider (of many)..

arts council grant of £468,000 per year ongoing ...(nice earner)

..asking folk to sign up & support em on a tier system, lottery grants etc.

1 person on 100k basic salary
1 person on 70k basic salary

Credit where credit is due they know how to work the charity cash system.

Folk really ought to have a look through their accounts at companies house.

Somewhat remniscent of the olympics get folk to work for nowt (stewards & similar) whilst paying money hand over fist to the I.O.C. business model.

Or public purse to create the millenium dome, which was then deemed worthless & sold off for a pittance, ...rising phoenix like as a major money spinner ...gullible public.

Ooh look at the pretty lights! ...right close a far more useful patient service cos the money aint there! ..so whats the cost for this lot then?

I've had a look at some of the pics & frankly the pics are a load of tosh, wow a phone box that's an aquarium, ..sort of "braying fool" art that would get panned any other day.

Some tree & flowers if you stretch your imagination a lot ... crud, expensive at that.

An mbe for the director & a shedload of lottery money...doubtless with more to come.

..really!?

Anticipate some led light tubes, some projector screens, some "peppers ghost" illusion to hit up some floating imagery, & likely some fog machines for some laser imagery along the line.

Likely more cost effective (if you want led light shows) to permanently light up some of the more prominent architecture within the capital.

Where are they tonight!

There's no way, you will make old Mr Gus, see the light!:confused:

Oh jesus, Mr. Pedantic over here!!

Stop breathing all that free air...

It aint "free" the costs will be put onto your taxation / community charge.

Fun but "free" implies no cost borne to the public, that isn't so.

Should be fun indeed - really cold - and busy underground though to brace :smiley:

Also Canary Wharf is hosting Winter Lights. It seems to be separate event.

http://canarywharf.com/arts-events/events/winter-lights-canary-wharf/?instance_id=