• £40k spent hiding how rarely northern powerhouse minister visited north
    8 replies, posted
The "~northern powerhouse~" is a fancy name for North England where the government are investing money to make it a powerhouse. from /r/nottheonion £40k spent hiding how rarely northern powerhouse minister visite.. The government has spent two years and £40,000 of taxpayers’ money trying to hide how little the northern powerhouse minister visited the north of England in his role, in what one prominent northern figure called “a blatant disregard for the principles of democratic accountability”. In February 2016 the Guardian submitted a freedom of information (FoI) request to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) asking how regularly James Wharton, who had then been northern powerhouse minister for just over six months, travelled outside London. The department flouted a requirement to respond to the request within 20 working days and did not provide a response for more than four months – at which point it denied the application. The department fought for so long to prevent the release of the information that two other men, Andrew Percy and Jake Berry, have since taken up the role of northern powerhouse minister, and the entire department has been renamed as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. One might be conflicted on whether or not he has to leave London (I personally believe he should visit the place he's supposed to be improving/representing) but it's undeniable that his office shouldn't have wasted time and money, and mesaures should be taken in future to make things more transparent. One also has to wonder why they tried to hard to obfuscate this, is it to hide a lack of strategy and/or action? On a lighter note every single thing about this news story - from the "northern powerhouse" name to the delay taken, to the renaming of the department - reminds me of the comedy show "Thick of It"
That's not a lighter note, that's depressing as fuck that our government is more incompetent than a parody of itself.
As someone who lives in ~the northern powerhouse~ area I can tell you that everything the tories promised about ~the northern powerhouse~ is a total lie. The tories do not care about the north because the north traditionally votes overwhelmingly for Labour. why waste time and money on people who won't vote for you?
Im also living in the 💪 NORTHERN💪  POWERHOUSE💪 and I had to google if they had done anything. Apparently they have, genuinely suprised a) that they actually spent money on the north b) that there seems to be nothing to show for it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVoPdnZzKbM
"I am unfuckable, I have never been fucked" It's on netflix at the moment - next few nights sorted out
It's been on Netflix for a few years, I believe. I also recommend the movie called 'In The Loop' based heavily on it.
I think some of the scenes there (where he calls the american a sweaty fat fuck) are from that. I like the pacifist general in that, MVP of the film
As someone currently struggling for work in the north of England, I'm actually appalled at what they have done to this region. Every industry that was thriving through the 70's and 80's has died, everyone is on benefits as a norm and the teen pregnancy rate is absolutely through the fucking roof. Coming from Scotland this place honestly feels like an entirely different world.
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