Half Time

We have just passed Leeds City Council's £506 million budget by 6 votes. I have got bored and slipped away to catch up on some email upstairs in a Civic Hall office. Despite being over 2.5 hours long only a handful of the 99 City Councillors are allowed to speak in the budget debate and all of them front benchers. While this makes it one of the premier events in the political calendar in debating terms it does make you feel like lobby fodder. The chamber began to empty after the vote and a wave of backbenchers began making "in all but name" budget speeches on the finance minutes. I suppose if I were being consistant I'd have staid and made my undelivered speech but I guesstimate that it will be guilotined before they'd reach me on the order paper.

I will do a more considered and detailed post about this tommorrow but at half time I have just one thought. The whole debate today has been on the Labour opposition amendment which would have reallocated £3.1m but left our Council tax change at 4.&% increase. That's just 0.6% of the total budget. I first heard Brian Walker the then Labour Leader of the Council make this point 8 years ago at my first budget debate in answer to Conservative and Lib Dem baying. I couldn't help but smile when I heard the Conservative Leader of Council make the same point today to Labour opposition baying. I never thought I'd say it but Brian walker was right.

Become an Organ Donor ?

I'm co sponsering a motion to next weeks Leeds City Council meeting asking it to use all its exisiting publicity outlets to publicise Organ Donation. If anyone is interested check out www.uktransplant.org.uk and there is a infomation line on 0845 6060400.

Clearly whether people donate/register is a personal choice and i don't think its appropriate for a Council to try and persuade people. However we spend a fortune on external communications, much of it tat, and it often lacks a central focus and isn't about camapaigning.

Given the current shortage of organs for Transplant and the literally life saving out comes , I think Leeds City Council could help by using resources its spending anyway just to get the infomation out to people.

We've already had some success with a very prominent press article yesterday. My thanks to Cllr Bernard Atha (Lab, Kirkstall ) for working on this hopefully all party initative.

Screening Queens

Can I quickly plug the Screening Queens season at the Hyde Park Picture House ( www.hydeparkpicturehouse.co.uk ) which is part of Leeds Winter Pride (www.leedspride.co.uk ). The season runs 8th to the 13th of February. The programme is a little safe for my liking and some would say panders to sterotype. Though I'm sure of the choices are ment with Post Modern irony. Highlights I suspect will be Beautiful Thing ( I will cry if I go), A Taste of Honey ( brings back memories of my GCSE Drama course) and Drag Idol Leeds: The Movie.

I haven't made the last one up. It's a film about last years Leeds Competition to find the Cities best Drag Act. Proceeds from this Screening will go to Yorkshire MESMAC.