---

@jd.linklater wrote:

---

@cee-dee wrote:

OK, what do you all think of this?:-

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-39141354

---

A disgrace but nothing unusual really for the ones holding the purse strings to award themselves scandalous pay rises  while we're living in straightened times. The general population are the ones who have to deal with austerity while those at the top of the tree are largely unaffected, has it ever been any different? The result of trying to hold them to account for their actions is that they have been living off the rest of us for the past 4 years or so without even having to turn up for work.

---

Yes, it is a disgrace but in truth is only the tip of the ice-berg.  If you're interested sign up for the Taxpayers Alliance and they send regular bulletins about this sort of thing and the waste of public money in so many other ways.

Trouble is they have had things all their own way for so long they have a massive sense of entitlement to do what they like and pay themselves whatever they like for doing it.  With local democracy practically defunct there is no longer any control by tax payers or voters.

I'm quite sure this was part of the EU agenda, Local Councils being run by the un-elected senior officers with the elected councillors only there as a rubber stamp for their decisions.   The basis of a strong democracy is local democracy, it suited national governments and the EU to see this wither away to get everyone used to being ruled by the un-elected and to a large extent they have succeeded.

So often the attitude now is that the Council / Westminster / EU will do what it wants and there's nothing we can do about it.  Hence the decline in voter turn-out over the years.

Yet if people only realised it the system is more vulnerable than ever and if people want change they have been handed the perfect lever to get it.  No need for riots or disorder, democracy could be re-established with the click of a mouse.