One of the great things about the internet is it allows us to indulge our passions.  With me it’s the area I live in, other people, the Omnibuses blog, are interested in the way the bus industry is reacting to modern pressures.  And at the moment they are interested in Ipswich Buses going to Go Ahead, and they’ve got an interesting view on what Chris Mole will do.

Ipswich Leninist Andrew Coates also sounds pleased as it looks like he’s got a campaign he can get his teeth into.

Ipswich Council is in talks to sell off Ipswich Buses to the Go Ahead group.  No doubt certain councillors who never use the buses (or live in the ward) are preparing their leaflets now.  It’s a good thing I’m not standing as a Conservative in the next Borough elections. Oh wait, I am.

The truth is that subsidising just about anything, and that includes Ipswich Buses, is impossible in the current economic climate and all three parties know it.   We are the last of the G20 countries to climb out of the recession.

The most important thing that concerns this ward is whether the bus services in the Maidenhall Estate will keep at their current levels and whether the progress that is slowly being made with coordinating the bus services on the Wherstead Road is continued.

I will continue to be looking at this and report back.

The website of Chris Mole was paid (at double the going rate) for by you and me, as taxpayers.

http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/chris-mole/Chris_Mole_0506_IEP.pdf

If you’re a Labour loyalist then this is a good deal, if you’re not then you’ve been robbed.

When one of the most prominent links on their website is to a scaremongering Labour website you can almost hear the refund cheque being written.  The office expenses are not for party political activity after all.

You then get some of the frankly bizarre poll questions that make you wonder if the author hasn’t been hired from the Chinese Communist Party Department of Very Fair One Sided Poll Questions.  Take this example:

“Do you agree that getting a university campus in Ipswich is a major triumph for the Labour Party in Ipswich”

How do you parody that question?  Remeber that you, not the Labour Party paid for that.

From beyond parody to the screaming subtext, how about this poll question:

“Do you think that local Tories and Liberals were vindictive to sack Labour councillor Phil Smart from the chair of Ipswich Buses for revealing cuts plans”

Now what would the publicly funded Chris Mole website, Ipswich Buses and Councillor Phil Smart all have in common?