tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24053083.post1106912625845990757..comments2023-03-25T13:58:08.712+00:00Comments on The Progressive Contrarian: A Thorn In The SideContrarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03991871513925117347noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24053083.post-61699877746762286672011-10-11T09:30:04.207+01:002011-10-11T09:30:04.207+01:00Good luck, Mike. Please keep us posted. My own FOI...Good luck, Mike. Please keep us posted. My own FOI request to my local council went in a week ago. I'll be posting the resply when it arrives...Contrarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03991871513925117347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24053083.post-15047938200788129032011-10-11T09:23:25.304+01:002011-10-11T09:23:25.304+01:00After receiving a 'proposal' from Durham C...After receiving a 'proposal' from Durham County Council which would see all the maintenance costs for Council-supplied stairlifts passed across to the new 'owners',namely us; and also<a href="http://mikecunningham.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/these-arent-cuts-they-are-slices/" rel="nofollow"> after blogging</a> and correspondence with Richard of EUReferendum, I too have slung another FOI request towards County Hall, asking when this proposal was discussed with Councillors.<br /><br />I forecast an intesting response!Mike Cunninghamhttp://mikecunningham.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24053083.post-31550416159772272492011-10-04T09:01:23.454+01:002011-10-04T09:01:23.454+01:00Thank you AM. I've listed all of the London bo...Thank you AM. I've listed all of the London borough FOI email addresses for easy reference. Let's pile on the pressure.Contrarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03991871513925117347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24053083.post-7885823491875513212011-10-04T09:00:39.831+01:002011-10-04T09:00:39.831+01:00TomTom - Good examples. And we need to mention tho...TomTom - Good examples. And we need to mention those whenever anyone floats the idea that tax payer funding of political parties aids democracyContrarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03991871513925117347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24053083.post-62332381169486355522011-10-03T21:46:12.529+01:002011-10-03T21:46:12.529+01:00You're absolutely right about the political la...You're absolutely right about the political labels. <br /><br />The left-right divide of yesteryear has been replaced by consensus politics which makes the main parties indistinguishable from each other on the major issues.<br /><br />The real political battle today is between an all powerful big state and those who want a small state that provides basic services. <br /><br />One weapon in our arsenal is to hold the organs of state to account and force them to reveal information they would rather keep from us.<br /><br />Let the FOI requests flow...Autonomous Mindhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06486289897038432660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24053083.post-7728071926356966212011-10-03T13:12:52.233+01:002011-10-03T13:12:52.233+01:00Take Helmut Kohl and arms dealer Karlheinz Schreib...Take Helmut Kohl and arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber extradited from Canada in 2009.<br /><br />How Schreiber facilitated an arms deal to Saudi and bribed German ministers; how he met Schauble (current German Finance Minister) in a car park in Southern Germany and handed him a suitcase full of cash for transportation to secret CDU Slush Fund accounts in Switzerland.<br /><br />How Elf_Acquitaine ran a slush fund for Mitterand and paid Kohl's Party for the Leuna Refinery in cash for the election; and how noone could find files relating to the refinery once Kohl was prised out of the Chancellery and Angela Merkel could move into pole position.<br /><br />Yes, and all this on top of State-funded parties paid into the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Friederich Ebert Stiftung....how else does the SPD maintain a cruise liner Princess Daphne<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL66bVOYF4E" rel="nofollow">Ship</a><br /><br />Makes the Tory use of River Companies in Hong Kong look positively amateurish<br /><br />PS. The German Finance Minister is very hardline on cracking down on tax evasion in Switzerland !!!!TomTomnoreply@blogger.com