Skip to main content

Ratty, Mole and Toad go to Westminster

Dressed in his old Etonian flannels, the affable Rat was punting up the river with his Fortnum and Mason hamper in tow taking in the fragrant, soft spring air. After a lifetime underground forgotten by everybody, the soft skinned Mole had finally come to the surface feeling all confused. The all knowing Rat soon recognised the advantages of taking the helpless Mole under his wing. The Mole was just grateful to be among the important people above ground.

After a while they saw a very grand punt going past them and Mole asked the rat who the person was on that very grand looking vessel. "That is Mr. Toad", replied Rat. He is very wealthy but always spends in excess of his income. That punt for instance cost him a fortune but word on the river has it that he is taking delivery of a new motor car on Saturday and he hasn't yet paid for that punt!

"Oh dear", said the agreeable Mole. "It will all end in tears", said the knowing Rat. After a succession of imprudent purchases, the profligate Toad soon found himself in the debtors prison and while there, his beloved Toad Hall had been taken over by a load of rowdy, free loading jingoistic stoats and weasels. Their leader Nigel was a most disagreeable chap who seemed to be popular with just about everyone despite him being a bit of a lout. With their old friend Rupert the grumpy antipodean Badger, the Rat and the Mole resolved to run Toad Hall while Toad was away in disgrace.

But the wasteful Toad was soon back and insisted on returning to Toad Hall. He immediately announced several grandiose plans for the future but was swiftly put in his place by his trio of friends; the trusty Old Etonian Rat, the ever willing Mole and the grouchy Badger from the Southern hemisphere. They all realised that hey just couldn't take their eye off that roguish Toad for a second or he'd spend all the money and once more have nothing to show for it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Are you being served?

Denbighshire County Council (DCC) have just published their Resident's Survey Report. And an interesting read it is too. But before scrutinising the content of that Report, it is interesting to note that the Local Government Data Unit has just announced that DCC was one of the top 5 performing Councils in Wales during 2015/16. But sadly, the Resident's Survey Report was not used to come to this conclusion. If it had been used, it would be difficult to believe that DCC is one of the best performing councils in Wales - unless the others are even worse. Although I'm not sure if DCC are legally required to conduct a Resident's Survey, I would have thought it to be an obvious thing to do. To quote the Local Government Authority, "Understanding the resident's views is a key element of assessing the effectiveness of an authority, alongside cost and performance information. Furthermore, understanding resident satisfaction and being able to make informed comparison...
2 comments
Read more

Tony Blair - Not fade away?

Notwithstanding the current involvement of Gordon Brown in the current political debate surrounding the Scottish Referendum vote, it is customary for former prime ministers of the United Kingdom to fade gracefully in to the background and make way for the new breed. Margaret Thatcher, Edward Heath, Jim Callaghan and Harold Wilson all achieved this simple task without too much fuss. John Major occasionally interjects with an opinion but usually long after the boat has left the harbour. Tony Blair alone seems quite oblivious to this unspoken rule of British political life. An eleventh year leading the country was quite enough for Lady Thatcher when her party dispensed with her services. It seems that Tony Blair can't get enough of power. He is beginning to come across as one of those computer viruses which just won't go away once it has been granted access. We begin to rue the day we ever clicked the "yes" button. The virus invades our entire system and seems ubiquito...
3 comments
Read more

Denbighshire: The county where devolution has gone too far?

Like every other local council in the UK, my local council in Denbighshire has had to contend with significant cuts to it's budget.  Since the heady days of New Labour when "Things can only get better" in an economy being run on the principle of "prudence", the UK public sector has been allowed to swell like one of those marrows being lined up to take first prize in the local agricultural show. The problem is that just like the marrow, an overly large council has to be nursed with kid gloves to ensure it's continued growth. But as with all biological systems, the marrow has a finite size to which it can feasibly grow before nature calls time with a series of intricate molecular triggers. My local council is just like that marrow.  It has now grown to an unsustainable size following years of assisted life support. Figures appear to suggest that my local council has to account for a funding cut of around £8.5 million for 2015/16. If you were running my local...
3 comments
Read more