Labour-run Leeds City Council is has been having a tough time recently as it faces an “unprecedented” financial black hole. The council axed its Child Bereavement Services to save £136,000, despite providing 1,200 crucial support sessions a year to grieving families…
And yet, while parents mourning their children are left in the lurch, the council has found taxpayer cash for something else: special two-hour “Personal Performance Anxiety Training” sessions. Not for struggling residents, but for councillors who are feeling a bit wobbly about their performance at work. The training covers vital concerns such as:
No word yet on how much this group therapy session will set the taxpayer back. UK DOGE recommends costs are cut here…
UPDATE: The council have now cancelled these sessions for the “foreseeable future” after UK DOGE’s story. Victory…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”