FRANKLY AWFUL, FRANCO

Most CEO’s of good companies will generally reply to complaints.

Not, Franco: he ignores them!

This Reform’s candidate for Queen’s Gate Ward. Her name is Kezia Noble. She is one of the world’s leading experts on dating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xry-f-JSPrU.

She is hoping to unseat Sam Mackover, the sitting Conservative councillor. Now, Sam would admit himself that in the looks department, he is no match for Miss Noble. But, are looks really what we want when it comes to running a complex council? The Dame thinks the answer is self-evident.

Mackover is possibly one of the best councillors the Borough has. For Reform to put up Miss Noble is an absolute slap in the face to taxpayers.

The Dame was brought up with Victorian values (she even covers the legs of her Queen Anne furniture to avoid being shocked).

Imagine her horror when she researched Miss Noble’s very saucy background….she advises ‘only fans’ of a certain type of special entertainment to google Miss Noble

Notting Hill Genesis is a mess and this above is its CEO, messy looking Patrick Franco, Franco’s previous job was at Foxtons, the estate agent-an estate agency which attracted much controversy

Chaos seems to reign at NHG. Interventions by regulators and floods of complaints from angry tenants and owners. It is time the government stepped in.

Here is just a brief synopsis of that chaos

Notting Hill Genesis (NHG), a major London housing association, has faced significant controversy regarding, severe, chronic repair delays, widespread errors in service charges (including charging tenants for non-existent services), and, as detailed in the Social Housing Action Campaign report, a failing grade from the Regulator of Social Housing regarding tenant safety and service quality. 

Key controversies and issues surrounding Notting Hill Genesis include:

• Service Charge Failures: Residents reported significant errors in service charge notices, including instances where residents were charged for services not provided, such as a lift in a building that only had stairs. NHG apologized for “incorrectly apportioned” costs after residents faced potential, unjustified, thousands-of-pounds increases.
• Housing Ombudsman Findings: The Housing Ombudsman has documented cases of maladministration, including serious failures to handle complaints, address damp/mould, and manage repairs after sewage floods.
• Poor Conditions and Management: Tenants have raised concerns over long-term disrepair, such as mold and pest infestations, alongside accusations of implementing “poor doors” to separate tenants.
• Failed Regulatory Rating: The Regulator of Social Housing downgraded NHG to a ‘G3’ grade, indicating a failure to meet governance requirements and a need for major improvements in risk management.
• Misleading Advertising: The Advertising Standards Authority previously ruled against NHG for overstating the benefits of their shared ownership schemes.

The Dame needs to be very clear….she is not a Lib Demmer….she finds Sir Ed very irritating.

Wade…The Sublime

However, if Cllr Linda Wade replaced Ed she would have to do some serious re-thinking. The Dame has just written about the lazy leader of the Labour Party, Cllr Ali…a self-promoting buffoon and the object of borough-wide ridicule.

Ali…The Ridiculous

On the other hand, we have Linda Wade. If Labour councillors want a lesson in powerfully serving residents’ interests, they could ask Linda to run a workshop. Given the abysmal quality of Lab cllrs probably a waste of energy.

The Dame had a very positive experience with Linda over a running sore of an issue related to the thoroughly useless and disrepaired Notting Hill Genesis. NHG is led by ex-Foxtons estate agent, Patrick Franco(Dame, was that not the agency with a lot of controversy surrounding it?)

Linda was a force of nature-to be fair to Hamish Adourian, he also put his back into it.

Earl’s Court residents are fortunate to have Linda Wade…God help them if one of Ali’s crew were representing residents.

Well done, Linda. Keep up the selfless hard work.

Cllr Ali is a real mystery. In between boasting about his fund raising for Grenfell(as if he alone was the driver!) he seems to spend a lot of his time in the wilder parts of Somalia: an area you would not want your gap year daughter sending postcards from.

Here he is acknowledging the rapturous applause of thousands of Kensington voters!(what a clown!) The Dame was appalled to see that his self-promotion to residents included a puff about his sauce

If Ali is the best the Labour Party can come up with, it deserves to be smashed. Ali is notably stupid and inarticulate.

An insider at ADVANCE UK confides to the Dame that the leadership is in a state of fury over Cllr Eva Jedut’s imaginative assertion that the party has selected her. The source states that ADVANCE UK’s selection process is scrupulous—which rather leaves Ms Jedut’s claim floating somewhere between administrative error and creative writing exercise. Jedut is the subject of this report by the Council.

https://rbkc.moderngov.co.uk/committees/documents/s11827/9%20i%20doc%2010%20Complaint%202%20Cllr%20Jedut%20FINAL%20Investigation%20Report%20as%20at%20301023_Redacted%20211123.pdf

This is, after all, a councillor whose recent political journey has taken her from Labour Party to the Workers Party of Britain, a route not so much a straight line as a scenic detour through ideological lay-bys. One might admire the versatility, if not the navigational clarity. One has to question the local Labour Party’s sanity in ever selecting Jedut! ADVANCE UK points out that George Galloway, leader of the Workers Party of Britain has close and supportive connections with Russia and Iran

ADVANCE UK, for its part, has never encountered Cllr Jedut, selected her, or indeed done anything that might encourage such an impression. A senior source, reaching for the diplomatic register and finding it temporarily unavailable, noted that if she genuinely believes her views align with theirs, then questions may arise—not so much about party membership as about her broader suitability to represent the residents of Kensington & Chelsea.

The matter, we are told, may be referred to the Council’s Monitoring Officer, ensuring that what began as a curious claim may yet enjoy the full procedural treatment. In local government, after all, nothing says closure quite like a formally logged concern and a carefully worded letter confirming that everyone is taking it extremely seriously indeed.

Mothin Ali, Polanski’s deputy ranting about gays, Jews and drugs. His diary is pretty full. Tonight he is off to a rally to commemorate his spiritual leader, Khamenei.

Let us look at the works of his hero below. Normally, hanging is fast: the brutal regime insists of hoisting victims so they die slowly, in agony.

Gays and drug addicts were strangled to death on the orders of the deputy leader of the Green Party’s unlamented spiritual leader, Khomeini…“by your heroes you will be judged”

Images of just some of the thousands murdered by Khamenei’s thugs…mainly students.

There were movingly peaceful scenes in Hyde Park as Iranians celebrated the demise of a man responsible for the torture and murder of tens of thousands of Iranians over the years. Interesting that some were displaying the Star of David…must be infiltrating agents of the Mossad!

It really is a mad, mad world…

In Gorton and Denton, Muslim community leaders threw their weight behind the Green Party — apparently deciding that ideological indigestion is a small price to pay for electoral strategy. Principles? Park them at the door. The party has long flirted with drug policy liberalisation that would make even hardened libertarians blink.

Polanski’s defence — that the “war on drugs is lost” — is less a rallying cry than a shrug. It’s the political equivalent of “well, we tried.” Meanwhile, Islam is unambiguous on intoxicants and hardly renowned for its theological flexibility on sexuality. Cognitive dissonance, meet campaign leaflet.

Then there’s Cllr Mona Adam in Kensington and Chelsea — educated in Saudi Arabia, a state not exactly famous for its relaxed approach to narcotics or alcohol. As for homosexuality….being thrown off roof tops or strangulation by hanging deals with that. In Islamic states enforcement is less “harm reduction” and more “swift reduction.” One can only marvel at the intellectual gymnastics required to square that background with the Greens’ breezy, anything-goes urban liberalism.

If the Greens ever do become “Islamified,” their younger, rainbow-flag-waving libertines may discover that revolutionary alliances have expiry dates. Political coalitions are funny things: everyone smiles for the photo, and no one mentions the contradictions — until they matter.

So yes, Cllr Adam, do enlighten us: how does one reconcile uncompromising religious orthodoxy with a party whose social philosophy is essentially “live and let live — and legalise it”? The electorate would be fascinated to hear the footnotes.

Can anyone remind the Dame why Cllr Mona Adam deserted the Labour ranks and fled into the arms of the very strange Mr Polanski.

Adam was educated and indoctrinated in Saudi Arabia: a country which hates gay people like Polanski, Christians and all non-Muslims. It also routinely chops off heads for all sorts of ‘diverse reasons’. Anyone trying to replace the theocratic ‘king’ also will face the chop in ‘Chop Square’. Adam is a weird choice for the purportedly libertarian Greens.

A reader, Old Grump, has helped out the Old Dame

There are really only three possible answers to that question Dame;

1) She is as mad as he and his party are
2) Labour were going to de-select her, or already have done
3) Labour are not anti semitic enough for her

Old Grump left out a key qualification. Adam claims to have studied sociology at the King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. It must have been there that she picked up some of her ‘enlightened views!’ Readers would be interested in the elements of the sociology course. The uni is a centre of a particular brand of Islam, which is ultra-intolerant. She says, “Am director of Shaman PR. I was educated in Saudi Arabia where I studied sociology at King Saudi University.”

Biker Boy, Patrick Franco, Foxton’s estate agent turned housing association CE!

Leaseholders and tenants of Notting Hill Genesis are wearying of the constant staff turnover. On a weekly basis staff come and go….it’s like an estate agency but then as the CE ran an estate agency no great surprise

The Dame hears of Chinese Whispers from Imperial College. Question…why are mainland Chinese students barred from the Dept of Aeronautics?

Is this anything to do with spying? Yes, is the answer. It seems that universities, especially high-level research ones, are being targeted by the students whose activities are not confined to study….

A very good — and very wealthy — American friend of the Dame had a serious fall the other day while visiting our fine city. She was full of praise for the Emergency Department at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital: wonderful staff, prompt scans, and excellent treatment.

In the US — or privately here — she said the bill would easily have run to a couple of thousand pounds. When she asked how much she owed, the answer was simple: “Nothing.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea & Westminster is reportedly owed over a million pounds from other overseas scammers. The usual trick is, “oh, I left my cards at the hotel”.

Our hospital staff work long, exhausting hours. Just imagine how much better their pay and conditions might be if NHS managers actually stopped overseas visitors helping themselves to free care. Replicate this throughout the UK and do the sums…tens of millions are lost.

Farage must be absolutely overjoyed. His rag-bag party is suddenly feasting on a buffet of disillusioned Labour voters.

Labour loves to talk about “ordinary working people” — as if it owns them, medieval-style, like loyal serfs. But it seems the serfs are slipping their chains, having taken a good look at the decadent and incompetent Labour ruling class.

Turns out they dislike Rayner and Miliband almost as much as they dislike Starmer. So, interesting days ahead. God help us if we have to go to war with Russia, with Rayner and Miliband defending us!

When she was a young child, the Dame spent a day with Field Marshal Montgomery.

At the end of the day, just before we left, he asked us all a question.

“What is the most important word in the English language?”

He answered it for us: “Integrity.”

In those far-off days, our British leaders held integrity in high regard. The behaviour of Lord Mandelson and his friends reminds us how far we have fallen.

Hot on the heels of the notorious Betty Blue’s endorsement of Reform comes an even bolder manoeuvre: the K&C REFORM branch has recruited seduction expert, Kezia Noble as campaign manager. Yes, really! She has even been featured in the Mail if you click here https://www.dailymail.co.uk/lifestyle/article-4381894/The-FEMALE-pick-artist-teaching-men-seduce-women.html

Kezia will be deploying her unique professional skillset to seduce voters into backing Reform. This, astonishingly, is a first in British politics. The Dame, ever the empiricist, is fascinated to know whether ‘political persuasion by flirtation’ might actually work in staid old Kensington& Chelsea.

There is a website called Fandom, which the Dame—being neither prurient nor reckless—does not recommend to her more delicate readers. Curiosity, after all, has form. Ludo, her vile nephew, pointed it out to her….

TEENS IN CHARGE!

Two Lead Leicestershire CC Reform councillors running childrens’ services whilst still at uni! What can go wrong?

The Dame has studied the Council over the years.

She has seen the bad days with Merrick Cockell and its resurgence with a far higher quality of leadership.

Johnny Thalassites, Sof McVeigh, Cem Kemahli, Emma Will and Kim Taylor-Smith have proven not just competent but hard working.

The Dame doesn’t praise lightly but we get our money’s worth from them. Sof McVeigh, in particular, is handling the housing brief with skill and empathy.

However, in difficult times people are tempted to rush toward anyone who promises easy, happy outcomes. Reform will make all these promises, but the question we must ask is simple: can Reform be trusted to run this council?

The answer is a resounding no.

Just as bad would be Labour run by the member for Somalia, Cllr Ali and his team of no hopers.
Reform’s record of running local councils is dire. No one can accuse the Dame of being soft on K&C councillors—she has repeatedly called out poor decision-making when she sees it. But she is also a realist. Replacing the current leadership with political unknowns is a recipe for chaos and a surge in council tax.

Meanwhile, Joe Powell remains utterly silent on Labour’s grossly unfair so-called “fair funding” settlement, which strips money from K&C residents to subsidise other parts of the country.

The council could try to sugar the pill by dipping into reserves, but that merely kicks the can down the road and leaves the bill for the next generation. The hard truth is that a 5% council tax rise is looming—and that responsibility lies squarely with a Labour government.

Over the next four years, K&C will lose £108 million—more than 50% of its controllable budget—at a time when pressures from temporary accommodation and social care are already severe.

Handing control to Reform would be as reckless as asking children to run a successful company. Failure would be swift and costly. Rob Wharton, Reform’s deputy leader in Worcestershire, is already contemplating a 10% council tax rise—a stark example of why people with no local government experience represent a clear and present danger to our finances.

This year alone, the council plans to cut £22 million from its budget, with over 100 staff leaving. Capital projects will be paused. Freezing council tax under these conditions is not honest governance—it would put essential services at risk, from street cleaning and bin collections to social care.

When the council can freeze council tax, it will—as it did in the first term. But under this Labour government, local hands are being tied.

The Dame has studied Kensington and Chelsea Council over many years. She has seen it in the bad days with Merrick Cockell and its resurgence with a far higher quality of leadership. Johnny Thalaasites, Sof McVeigh, Cem Kemahli, Emma Will and Kim Taylor-Smith have proven not just competent but hard working. The Dame does praise lightly but we get our money’s worth from them. 

However, in difficult times people are tempted to rush toward anyone who promises easy, happy outcomes. Reform will make all these promises but the question we must ask is simple: can Reform be trusted to run this council?
In the Dame’s view, the answer is a resounding no.

Reform’s record of running local councils so far is dire. No one can accuse the Dame of being soft on K&C councillors—she has repeatedly called out poor decision-making when she sees it. But she is also a realist. Replacing the current leadership with political unknowns is a recipe for chaos, not reform.

Meanwhile, Joe Powell remains utterly silent on Labour’s grossly unfair so-called “fair funding” settlement, which strips money from K&C residents to subsidise other parts of the country. The council could try to sugar the pill by dipping into reserves, but that merely kicks the can down the road and leaves the bill for the next generation. The hard truth is that a 5% council tax rise is looming—and that responsibility lies squarely with a Labour government.

Over the next four years, K&C will lose £108 million—more than 50% of its controllable budget—at a time when pressures from temporary accommodation and social care are already severe.

Handing control to Reform would be as reckless as asking children to run a successful company. Failure would be swift and costly. Rob Wharton, Reform’s deputy leader in Worcestershire, is already contemplating a 10% council tax rise—a stark example of why people with no local government experience represent a clear and present danger to our finances.

This year alone, the council plans to cut £22 million from its budget, with over 100 staff leaving. Capital projects will be paused. Freezing council tax under these conditions is not honest governance—it would put essential services at risk, from street cleaning and bin collections to social care.

When the council can freeze council tax, it will—as it did in the first term. But under this Labour government, local hands are being tied.

Robbers with machetes stopping bystanders intervening

Yes, there was some unnecessary disorder outside the Iranian Embassy when police arrested a demonstrator for switching flags on a long-unused embassy building. But was it really sensible to respond to such a minor transgression with heavy-handed force? To many watching, it looked less like policing and more like the authorities protecting the interests of a barbaric regime. This action was harmless compared to the rampant London crime. We are told that there are no resources to be on the streets, but a mass of police around the disused embassy of a fascist regime.

Largely good humoured

Hundreds of officers were deployed outside the embassy, despite the fact that—until this arrest—the demonstrations had been peaceful and well-ordered. Protesters have also complained of being photographed by police, raising fears that images could end up in the wrong hands. For people protesting an authoritarian regime, that is no small concern.

And then comes the real absurdity.

While a small army of police idles outside the embassy, a mile or two down the road machete-wielding gangs are roaming free—terrorising staff and passers-by as they raid the Rolex store, stealing watches worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This is policing turned upside down. Peaceful demonstrators are treated like a threat, while violent criminals run amok. This isn’t public order—it’s khanage on our streets.

Zahawi and Jenrick: a couple of chancing bounders who think politics is just another hustle. Reform hoovers up this sort of political flotsam and calls it a strategy.

The Dame can be acidic about the council, but when it actually matters she knows exactly where her bread is buttered. She understands how power works — and who can be trusted with it. That is why the current RBK&C leadership team is top quality compared to Reform riff raff.

Reform, by contrast, has already shown itself to be flat-out incompetent when it comes to managing council finances. RBK&C needs serious scrutiny of staffing levels and productivity, yes — but it also needs grown-ups in charge. Officers exist to serve elected councillors, not to run rings around amateurs who don’t understand how local government functions. We can be sure they would run rings around Reform.

Reform is eyeing a push in Kensington & Chelsea. That should worry anyone with a functioning brain. K&C is packed with business-savvy, highly experienced people who spot blaggers a mile off. Letting Reform anywhere near the levers of power would be an act of collective self-harm.

The Dame has met several of their candidates and the verdict is brutal: they are of a vastly inferior calibre to the current leadership team. Thin CVs, thinner judgement.

And then there’s Reform’s fatal flaw: its personalities. Jenrick and Zahawi won’t last five minutes without falling out with Farage. It’s only a matter of time before the whole thing collapses into public infighting and ego — tears before bedtime, guaranteed.

We are all better off sticking with a team that actually understands governance, competence, and responsibility — not a rabble of opportunists playing at politics.

It never rains but pours for Joe.

Kensington and Bayswater has a vast swathe of £1.5 m properties. If the VOA has its way, many will be dragged into the £2m plus mansion tax Labour plans to inflict on us. The vast majority of owners are not rich in either cash or assets….they probably have a huge mortgage. The additional tax will severely damage them. How will Joe persuade them to grin and bear it? The Dame thinks that they will turn on Joe with venom.

Joe’s other cross to bear is having to work for that MasterMind genius, David Lammy…..the man who thinks juries should be scrapped. Joe is a patient man. Minding a clown like Lammy will be a real test

The Dame hears the very sad news of the death of Judith Blakeman. She was hugely popular and highly regarded.

Judith was first elected to the Council in May 1978 as Councillor for Kelfield Ward. She served, with a one term gap (1990-94) until she stood down in May 2022. She also represented Avondale Ward (1994-98); Colville Ward (1998-2002); Notting Barns Ward (2002-14) and Notting Dale Ward (2014-22).

Judith also served as Leader of the Labour Group, Labour Group Whip and Deputy Mayor, 2007-08….the golden years of proper, intelligent opposition.

The Dame is well-connected in the highest echelons of British society. When her Louis Quinze-style phone tinkles, it is often a top member of the Establishment picking her brains about preferments.

She was thrilled the other day to receive a call from a toff in the PM’s office. He told the Dame that Mr Henderson is likely to be ennobled for faultless public service.

There will be much gnashing of teeth from the commies in the north of the borough, but as the adage goes...”cream rises to the top”