Rachel Reeves, or Empress Rachel as we will now call her, spent much of the weekend Tweeting her disappointment that Leeds Council Licensing Committee didn't share her views that every club in the City be closed at the probable loss of 750 jobs.
Below we can see her reaction to the news....
By 'much more needed' we can assume she means 'closed down'. Mike Parks believes that its all about revenue and asks everyone to remember the time he was a JP. Nonetheless, Empress Rachel is down, but not out and states that the total failure she and her gang experienced is only the beginning. She plans to bring in more people from London to tell Leeds Council how to run the City.
Dave Simpson bemoans how bad Leeds is getting with 'shop boards up' just like it was in the early nineties. Kind of weird comment, given that if Empress Rachel had got her way, there would have been 7 more sets of boarded up premises, two of which would have been opposite the Town Hall, which would have looked great for visitors to the Council. The Empress points out that the current state of Leeds is more reminiscent of the 1980s recession, which given that she was born in 1979 either means she has a great memory or saw some pictures of it somewhere.
Chris Matheson, 'Trade unionist. Evertonian. Labour supporter. Tory despiser. Racism hater', demonstrates his commitment to the economic well-being of the people by saying all clubs should be banned because they are 'revolting' and reassures us that he is 'no prude'. I suggest Chris pops into 'Wildcats' and talks to the dancers about their job and explains why it is revolting. He won't do this of course, because its easier to grandstand on Twitter than find things out for himself.
Empress Rachel congratulates Rebbeca Charlwood for her excellent campaigning and Rebbeca responds with a lovely 'huge thx'. I would love to work for Rachel, because I would get a bonus no matter happened, even if my campaign was flawed to begin with and ended in almost total failure...
Now we see the outline the Empress Reeves plan for vengeance. She is going to write a motion for the Labour branches, because lets face it they can't do it for themselves and she is going to get Neil Walshaw to take it 'to Headingley'. Neil is plainly thrilled about this idea and asks her for a reminder e-mail to undertake this critical task. As a reward Neil gets a lovely e-kiss. So sweet....
I have saved the best Tweet until last though....
Mike Parks (he used to be a JP) raises the possibility of an 'Inspector that looks into licensing matters' that maybe, just maybe can overturn democratic decisions that ambitious MPs don't like. Best of all, maybe the Empress and Becca can attend Licensing Meetings and make sure the locals do the right thing. The Empress thinks this is a brilliant idea and states that she will pursue the idea with a vengeance.
This has to be the most frightening thing of all, because Members of Parliament can in no way interfere with the business of a local council, so I have to ask why Rachel doesn't know this. Maybe she just plans to sit and give the Committee disapproving looks and tut whenever she hears something off message. Maybe she plans to attend by video conference, if so, future Leeds Council Licensing Committee meetings may look like this.....
I mean this is not a photo of a Leeds Council Licensing Committee meeting, but you get my drift. Empress Rachel can be anywhere in the world and project her disapproval at the committee members. You can see above that she is trying to influence the bald chap on the left. If he doesn't start agreeing, maybe he can be zapped with something....
So my message to every club owner in Leeds is that as Sun Tzu said, you plan for your enemies capacity, not their intention. This isn't over and as those that sat in on 'Wildcats' Licensing Hearing know, certain people are prepared to say and do almost anything....
I find it amazing that Empress R hasn't worked out that revolting, disgusting etc is the language of moral judgement. Fortunately the councillors knew that moral reasons (and these are not even everyones moral views) cannot close venues down. The best thing is Empress R hasn't worked out the more she drums up moralistic views the better grounds the clubs have for staying open.
ReplyDeleteAnd the more fun we have taking their arguments apart and revealing them (although they do a good job of that themselves) as being morons.....
ReplyDeleteI saw that Mike Parks one as well, good thing you now have a copy because if any of these clubs closes down during the year it may be needed as evidence that some extra-judicial "string pulling" activity has been going on. Unfortunately I suspect the Labour Party in Leeds of being corrupt and Leeds City Council is Labour run at the moment.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the Licensing Committee applied the law correctly and really these people should know this and accept it. Perhaps they are just grandstanding because their pride is wounded, keeping up a brave face. They are a strange bunch.
I think that it's grandstanding as well. Apart from dirty tricks, they really haven't got anywhere else to go or anything else to say. They are indeed a strange bunch, their obsessions are beyond rational debate and Rachel seems to have an understanding of her position that is almost entirely obscured by her self importance....
ReplyDeleteAs for the concessions re publicity activites: who's to say that these couldn't have been achieved in a more civilised and cost-effective manner, by the licensing department of the council negotiating with the clubs affected? It's seems to me that Rachel Reeves is clutching at straws, trying to salvage whatever dignity she can regarding the failure of her campaign.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that the MP for Leeds West feels that she has to make a name for herself and raise her local profile, given her party's recent disasterous result in the nearby constituency of Bradford West...
ReplyDeleteThat is in itself says something, because you would think that she would realise that a campaign with 750 job losses as an outcome would be a no-goer.....
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