Lashing out

Peter Black indulges in an uncharacteristic rant at the local public sector and top of his shit-list are Neath Port Talbot council for losing sensitive personal data; although his attempted correlation between this misdeed and the level of council tax is more than a little spurious.

NPT has always managed to infuriate the Lib Dem AM and never more so at those times when their controlling Labour group attract defecting councillors or un-opposed candidates – a means of recruitment that he clearly expects to be exclusive to his own party.

But taking his proposition at face value that there is indeed a link between poor performance and ineffective data safeguards then Black is uniquely placed to validate this claim. Not just because he is a prominent and long-serving member of Swansea Council, where children’s services remain in special measures following intervention by the Welsh Assembly, but also because the local cabinet member for social services is a member of his constituency staff.

Then again, perhaps this morning’s tetchiness is more to do with the result of the Norwich North by-election which turned out to be a disappointing non-event for Liberal Democrats, prompting a need for cat lover Black to take a kick elsewhere in understandable frustration.