Local councils in Kent will spend nearly £500,000 welcoming the Olympic torch as it passes through the county.
A BBC survey found budgets for the torch relay, which will be in Kent on 18, 19 and 20 July, varied from £750 in Gravesham to £210,000 in Maidstone.
Kent County Council will also spend more than £200,000 but has received grants from Olympics organiser Locog and the government to cover £120,000.
Kent will host two overnight stays, in Dover and Maidstone.
John Burden, leader of Gravesham Borough Council, said it was spending £750 of its taxpayers' money but had also received a grant from the government.
Spending by council
- Ashford - £15,500
- Canterbury - £12,000
- Dover - £90,000
- Gravesham - £750
- Swale - £21,000
- Shepway - not calculated
- Tunbridge Wells -£20,000
- Tonbridge and Malling - £10,000-£15,000
- Thanet - £30,000-£40,000
- Sevenoaks - £20,000
- Medway - £33,000
- Maidstone - up to £210,000
"It think it is excellent value for money. It is a very good event to be supporting," he said.
"We have to the local community doing food and entertainment and we have 50 volunteer marshals. It is a fabulous opportunity and people should go to see the torch."
Sandra Matthews-Marsh from Visit Kent said the Olympic torch was spending more time in Kent than any other county.
The tourism organisation has estimated the publicity and global coverage of the torch relay will be worth £324m over the next four years.
"We actually get the torch before it gets to London so I think the tension is going to mount as we get to that point," she said.
Andrew Bowles, leader of Swale Borough Council, said it estimated up to 20,000 people would visit Faversham to see the torch relay.
"I am absolutely convinced it will bring money into the local economy, if all those spend £10, which isn't very difficult," he said.
"It would be irresponsible for us to expect 20,000 people to turn up and not to spend the necessary money on first aid facilities, emergency car parking and crash barriers.
"We do have a duty of care."
Conservative-run Maidstone Borough Council said it had a budget of up to £210,000 but hoped to spend less.
Councillor Fran Wilson, leader of the Lib Dem opposition, said she believed the council should have been more frugal.
"I think we should have been a little bit more circumspect, but having said that. we are the county town so I would expect us to spend more than most other places," she said.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Former council boss who left half-way through her four year contract receives £420,000 in one of the biggest local authority payoffs - Daily Mail
- Former chief exec had led major shake-up of the way the county council was run
- Council has now dished out more than 600,000 to pay off last two chief execs
- Authority has paid out 10.08m in 'exit packages' to staff made between 2011-2012
By Andrew Levy
|
Big pay out: Former Kent County Council chief Katherine Kerswell got a 589,165 pay off from Kent County Council
A council chief who lasted just 20 months in her job was given a 589,165 pay-off, the local authority has been forced to admit.
Katherine Kerswell was a third of the way into her four-year contract when she left Kent County Council in December.
The council had refused to disclose details of the settlement, saying it was subject to a confidentiality agreement. But it was forced to declare the sum under new transparency rules on executive pay.
Its Conservative administration insisted at the time that her departure was part of a cost-saving reorganisation she oversaw that included getting rid of her own post. But there was also speculation she had fallen out with colleagues and councillors.
It is thought to be one of the highest ever remuneration packages for a council manager, and is more than four times the Prime Minister’s 142,500 salary.
The statement of accounts for 2011-12 revealed that Mrs Kerswell, 49, received 139,806 of her 197,000 salary, 420,000 in redundancy payments and a 29,359 pension contribution.
Robert Oxley, campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the council had shown ‘scant regard’ to value for taxpayers’ money.
He added: ‘Councils may have a legal requirement to make a redundancy pay-out, but this is staggeringly excessive.
‘Councillors need to scrap the overly generous contracts that make these deals possible before any more money is blown on gargantuan redundancy pay-offs.’
Expensive business: Kent County Council headquarters. A total of 10.08million has been paid in 'exit packages' to staff between 2011 and 2012
Mrs Kerswell had a 197,136 salary in her previous job as chief executive of Northamptonshire County Council. She had defended the pay deal by saying it was equal to only 29p for each person in the county.
She was also lampooned at the time for her ‘Taste the Strawberry’ campaign – management speak that was meant to represent the overall ‘flavour’ of the council’s services and help it to improve its performance.
She moved to Kent in March 2010 and oversaw a shake-up of the way the county council was run under its ‘Change To Keep Succeeding’ programme, which involved a cull of senior directors.
Kent County Council, which needs to make savings of 97million this year, paid out 10.8million in so-called ‘exit packages’ to about 1,000 staff in 2011-12. This included 172,000 to the authority’s former finance director, Lynda McMullan, who left in September last year and now works for the National Audit Office.
History: The council gave the chief executive who Ms Kerswell replaced a 200,000 pay off
Council leader Paul Carter said: ‘Removing chief executive posts is what more and more councils should be doing.
‘Employment law and contractual obligations mean we have to pay significant redundancy costs, but it will save a fortune in the long run. Our council is now being guided by officers who have worked their way up and know what life is like from a Kent taxpayer’s perspective.’
Last year it emerged that Phil Dolan, the former chief executive of South Somerset District Council, which has just 162,000 residents, had received a redundancy package of almost 570,000.
The transparency rules which forced the council to reveal Mrs Kerswell’s pay were introduced by the Coalition government.
Local Government Minister Grant Shapps last night criticised Mrs Kerswell’s pay deal as ‘deeply concerning’. He said: ‘I find dipping into the public purse to make such an eye-watering pay-off unacceptable.’
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Hong Kong to introduce competition law - Financial Times
June 15, 2012 3:15 pm
Source: www.ft.com
Radcliffe and Law join Grandage's West End Company - BBC News
Dame Judi Dench, Jude Law and Daniel Radcliffe will join director Michael Grandage for the first season of his new West End theatre company.
Based at the 950-seat Noel Coward Theatre, the 15-month season features five plays, including two Shakespeares and a new work from John Logan.
More than 200 tickets will be available for every performance at £10 each.
The season kicks off with Simon Russell Beale in the Peter Nichols' classic Privates On Parade, in December.
The award-winning comedy is set against the backdrop of the Malaysian campaign at the end of World War II.
It will be followed by Martin McDonagh's savage comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan, starring Daniel Radcliffe in the title role.
Grandage stepped down as the artistic director at London's Donmar Warehouse in late 2011, after nine years.
His work for the Donmar included Frost/Nixon, King Lear, and Red - from award-winning playwright John Logan.
Logan's latest play, Peter and Alice, stars Dame Judi and Ben Whishaw as the real-life inspirations for Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, and follows a chance meeting between the pair.
Dame Judi previously worked wtih Grandage on Madame De Sade - but it will mark Wishaw's first collaboration with the director.
No theatre season would be complete without Shakespeare, and Grandage has promised a "really, absolutely sexual production" of Midsummer Night's Dream, starring Sheridan Smith and David Walliams - as Bottom.
The season will end - in February 2014 - with Jude Law playing Henry V. The pair came up with the idea following Law's critically acclaimed performance in Hamlet at the Donmar.
Grandage set up The Michael Grandage Company along with former Donmar Warehouse collaborator James Bierman.
In a bid to reach out to as wide an audience as possible, 200 tickets will be available for each performance at just £10 - setting a precedent for commercial theatre in the West End.
The cheap tickets will be available for seats throughout the auditorium and will be bookable in advance, with 24 held for purchasing on the day.
Other tickets for the season will be priced at £27.50 and £57.50.
Grandage and Bierman said they want to enable theatre-goers to have access to every production throughout the run.
"We aim to appeal to new theatre-goers and help build audiences for the future," they commented.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Kent’s new healthcare model praised by health secretary Andrew Lansley - Kent News
(l-r) Dr Chee Mah, chairman of South Kent Coast Clinical Commissioning Group; Dr Joe Chaudhuri; health secretary Andrew Lansley; KCC leader Paul Carter; Dover MP Charlie Elphicke; and leader of Dover District Council Paul Watkins
By Marijke Cox, Reporter
Friday, June 15, 2012
8:00 AM
Kent Health Commission model could become leading example for the rest of the country
A pioneering new health and social care model which promises patient power and bespoke services could become the national beacon for a new type of healthcare.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley paid a special visit to Dover to launch the Kent Health Commission’s first report, a radical document looking to transform the way people are cared for in the county.
It looks to combine health and social care budgets to commission new services based on patients’ needs.
Among the recommendations is a major shift to community healthcare, where people receive support in their own homes or community.
This would be through the development of community hospital facilities and services in local areas meaning patients can avoid unnecessary long journeys to acute centres.
It could also lead to more district nurses, more occupational therapists, physiotherapists and intermediary care beds, and a whole range of services to support patients in their own home.
The document recommends shifting power to patients, enabling them to make informed choices about what is best for them, when and where to be treated and what treatment to receive under the principle “no decision about me without me”.
Self-management, such as telehealth where people can manage long-term illnesses themselves at home while still being monitored by professionals, is also at the heart of the recommendations.
Kent Health Commission said the leading principle should be that services are centred on the needs of patients rather than the organisations that deliver them.
During his visit, Mr Lansley said he welcomed the “bold move”.
“I welcome this report and the work underway to make sure the new health reforms provide the very best health and social care services for the people of Kent.
“I have asked for further updates on how these recommendations will be put into practice and the improved services that will be offered to local people with a view to using the health commission as a model for other areas to follow.”
Leader of Kent County Council Cllr Paul Carter established the commission, bringing together GPs, Dover MP Charlie Elphicke and Dover council leader Paul Watkins.
The report focuses on Dover and Shepway as templates for the proposed shake-up, which could release more than £59m a year in Kent – an average of £5m per district.
Cllr Carter said the commission supported radical and bold changes in the way primary health care is delivered.
The Tory leader, who admitted there were currently massive pressures on the system, said: “We want to cut bureaucracy and combine health and social care budgets to commission new services based around patient needs.
“Working together, we will commission new community health support that will transform the way people are cared for.
“In meeting local need, new local commissioning arrangements will make sure that ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune’.
“Using a whole raft of services to support patients in their own homes, we are looking to avoid unnecessary hospitalisation, particularly for patients with long term illnesses.”
This first report looks to support GPs, who have been given power over commissioning under the new national health reforms.
Kent Health Commission says it wants to help give GPs freedom and flexibility in their new role and for an exciting new market in health provision to be developed.
It also wants pooled commissioning between health and social care to speed up.
Chairman of south Kent coast clinical commissioning group Dr Chee Mah said those involved believe the collaboration will have a great impact, providing the best possible health and social care services.
Dr Joe Chaudhuri called it an “ambitious and exciting” initiative.
He added: “Strong, trusting relationships among different agencies are key and the fact that we have a shared vision gives me real confidence that we can achieve our collective ambitions.”
Source: www.kentnews.co.uk
Kent: Return of councillor who left malicious voicemail for bisexual colleague ‘an insult’ - pinknews.co.uk
A bisexual councillor in Kent has said it is ‘shocking’ that a Conservative colleague who told him he hoped he would ‘get Aids’ will rejoin his party’s team following a six-month suspension.
In May, independent councillor John Worrow received a voicemail from Conservative Ken Gregory which said: “With a bit of luck, you’ll get Aids.”
After a police investigation, Mr Gregory was cautioned for malicious communication and suspended from the Conservative group for six months.
But Mr Worrow told PinkNews.co.uk this afternoon there was anger at the prospect of Mr Gregory returning to the council at all.
Mr Worrow said: “Many residents feel that the decision for him to remain in the Conservative Party is an insult to those in the area who are living with HIV AIDS.
“On the same day as this shocking decision to allow Ken Gregory to rejoin the Conservatives in six months’ time, I received anonymous hate mail telling me I am going to hell for being bisexual.”
Mr Worrow said residents had called for a protest outside Thanet council offices on 12 July at 6pm, an hour before a public council meeting that Mr Gregory is attending, to call for him to resign.
The Conservative group leader had not responded to a request for comment on Mr Gregory’s suspension by the time of publication.
Thanet District Council became the first local authority in Kent to support equal marriage rights for gay couples in April. It was the second council in England, after Southwark, to affirm such a position.
Discuss this →Source: www.pinknews.co.uk
London Collections: Men live blog - fashion.telegraph.co.uk
Follow The Telegraph fashion team live from the first London Collections: Men shows. Today: Sherlock Holmes on the cawalk, Prince Charles' style secrets, Martin Kemp catwalks on a bar and more...
BY Belinda White | 15 June 2012
LIVE STREAMING TODAY:
10:00 Lou Dalton 12:00 Topman Design 14:00 Martine Rose
18:00 Xander Zhou
-----------------------------------------
FRIDAY JUNE 15
17:00 The sun comes out at YMC
Watercolour post card images of tropical islands are projected onto screens along the catwalk and there is exotic birdsong from the speakers. Spring / summer 2013 has a distinctly holiday feel at YMC with a continuation of those island prints we've come to love from this excellent British brand. They appear on polo shirts, tailored jackets and jumpers in a subdued colour palette. There were also collegiate elements - wide striped jersey Jackets that hinted towards the Ivy League. While the opening section of the show was dominated by a soft shade of lemon - in light cotton trousers, shorts and raincoats, the finale was a series of more challenging leopard print pieces - from polos and parkas to T-shirts and baseball caps. These aside, this is a hugely wearable collection, one of the strongest of the day, and one that I suspect will appeal most to men who have an interest in clothes but are happy to leave the fashion behind. - David Nicholls, Design Editor, The Telegraph Magazine.
PHOTO: @mrporterlive / Twitter
16:50 AN OMG OUTSIDE YMC
Check out the bad-boys on this chap's feet...
PHOTO: David Nicholls
16:35 OLIVER SENCER HAS A RUSSIAN MODERNIST MOMENT
Beards (and mankles) were much in evidence on the catwalk today at Oliver Spencer, a designer who likes his models a bit menacing looking. The clothes were altogether less rugged than we've maybe come to expect of him, however, the silhouette being cleaner than of late. Ditto the palette, which majored on navies and neutrals punctuated by great blocks of vibrant colour such as Majorelle blue, emerald green, berry red and mustard (the whole lot inspired, apparently, by the work of the Russian modernists and the abstract painter Ben Nicholson). Speaking backstage, Spencer said he was particularly proud of his reworked parka, a more fitted affair with a high waisted back and single deep vent. Me, I really, really loved the jodhpur-style trousers in a thick canvassy cream cotton buttoned at the ankles, but then I wouldn't say no to any of it.
PS. As for Spencer's "star" model, Gordon Richardson, the design director at Topman (see below): he made a very good job of modelling a natty navy suit, comprising a jacket with a broadish shoulder and side-adjusters. But Gordon, you've really got to work on looking mean and moody if you're going to make it... - Gareth Wyn Davies, Stella Magazine.
16:30 ALEXA OVERDRIVE
Alexa Chung is so everywhere at London Collections: Men. Martine Rose, Oliver Spencer, Topman Design - and even on top of the pillar box on the corner of Savile Row and Burlington Gardens. She was there to add a bit of YSL-shod Chungy-lustre to a shoot of the street's sharpest tailoring talent. Because she's doing some gig with the British Fashion Council she can't talk about the shows, she said - sigh - but did confirm that she's booked in between 10pm and 11pm to DJ at the Mr Porter/Jimmy Choo/Esquire party at the Corinthia Hotel. "I've got to go home and burn some CD's," she said. Now the Savile Row Open House event has just started. Most of the houses on "The Row" have thrown open their doors and workrooms to all-comers. The street is packed. For the first time in years there appears to be more people on Savile Row than there are adolescent tourists queueing outside Abercrombie and Fitch around the corner.
PHOTO: @lizmathewspr/ Twitter
16:15 SKORT SHRIFT
Could this be the first sighting on our streets of a pair of "skorts", aka the shorts-skirt hybrid for men, aka a coming trend (allegedly) in men's fashion? Spotted on Shan Temuri, a stylist, after Oliver Spencer's show. He assures me they're actually shorts "but flared". I'm not so sure. Anyway, the whole get up is by Comme des Garcons, with the exception of his chiffony cape thing at the back, which you can't see. And check out the peroxide eyebrows! - Gareth Wyn Davies, Stella Magazine.
15:25 HUNKS IN TRUNKS A-GO-GO AT ORLEBAR BROWN
Providing the dishiest model of the day so far, men's swimwear brand Orlebar Brown hosted a presentation in their swanky new store just of Regent Street. Season after season the label provides chic trucks - as favoured by James Bond - which sit somewhere in between budgie-smugglers and board shorts. The new collection saw wicker prints in various colour ways and geometrics courtesy of the David Hicks archives. Continuing to see a rise in sales of the shorter swimming trunks, the label is hoping to banish badly dressed Brits from beaches worldwide. This season Orlebar Brown is pursuing a natural progression into sportswear, with natty shorts that fold away into the smallest of bags, sweatshirts in every colour under the sun and all-weather kagools. Unfortunately during Team Telegraph's appointment, the eye-catching model had donned pieces from the sportswear collection. Orlebar Brown, next time please may we have more hunks in trunks? - Sophie Warburton, stylist coordinator, The Daily Telegraph.
PHOTO: Phillip Hollis
15:20 WE SPY A LOVELY NECK TIE
By Labour & Wait if you must know. 10 style points.
15:10 IN THE MOOD FOR ABBOUD
Citing London as the best fashion city for men, Bernardo Rojo, the creative director of American brand, Joseph Abboud very much felt like he was coming home. 'I took my first design job in London' explained Rojo but although presenting here he stayed true to the US based brand's roots. Hosting a salon-style show in the Bar Américain, Abboud presented a collection of slick sportswear in a colour palette of red, white and blue (with a little black thrown in for good measure). Post-show, the designer referenced pretty much every man's idol, James Dean, along with a modern twist courtesy of Ryan Gosling's character in 'Drive'. Models strutted in the runway in polonecks, styled under fitted blazers and shorts, while others wore macs with nipped in waists and slim cut chinos. With a nod to both the 1950's and the 80's the collection covered all bases for the modern man - wearable pieces, in innovative fabrics that can be styled up or down accordingly. Sleek and chic, even the snappiest of dressers could learn a thing or two from Abboud. - Sophie Warburton, stylist coordinator, The Daily Telegraph.
14:50 MIX IT LIKE MARTINE ROSE
Mix three parts bleached denim (oversized, Dexy's Midnight Runners proportions) with one part fake snakeskin, and one part scuba-style neoprene. Scatter in some handprint motifs, get your models to hold old band T-shirts (Pil, Screamadelica). Then top the whole thing with white, bankrobber-style facemasks. Finally bottom it with practical Velcro-strapped action-sandals of a type hitherto seen on any catwalk. Martine Rose was loopy and very niche - but fun. - Luke Leitch, deputy fashion editor, The Daily Telegraph.
PHOTOS: Phillip Hollis
14:40 FIX UP, LOOK SHARP
While you're waiting for the next show to drop, take a look at London editor, John O'Ceallaigh's guide to the emerging stars of Savile Row.
14:15 GOR-BLIMEY!
Backstage at rehearsals for Oliver Spencer show and catch Gordon Richardson, design director at Topman, with his trousers round his ankles, revealing striped jersey trunk knickers. The reason? He begged Oliver for a cameo on the catwalk. This is a picture of him preparing (with trousers on)... - Gareth Wyn Davies, Stella Magazine.
13:40 TOPMAN'S ARTY SPORTY SHOW
When the American graffiti cum neo Expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is mentioned in the pre-show blurb you have a pretty good idea what to expect. And so Topman Design presented a collection which was heavy on painterly prints which ranged from refined brush strokes, to those of the 'dab and splodge' variety.
Fuchsia, orange, red and various fluoro shades were the mainstay of a collection that included such delights as a Prince of Wales check shorts jumpsuit, and a section of Amercian football aertex crop tops. One genuine highlight was a series of lightweight tailored jackets that had been heavily lasercut. When worn with an underlayer of a different colour, it created a striking polka dot effect through the surface of the jacket. This was by no means a collection designed for an Everyman - the shapes (much of them oversized) were just as challenging as the prints and palette, but Topman Design's core clientele of urban street style youff fashionistas will not be disappointed.- David Nicholls, Design Editor, The Telegrpah Magazine.
PHOTOS: Chris Pledger
13:30 TINIE PROBLEM
13:00 ANOTHER GREEN BEAN HITS THE SCENE
Sir Philip Green and his daughter Chloe we hear from quite regularly, but today the lesser spotted Green - Brandon - put in an appearance at the Topman Design show. Our first question - naturally - was what is he wearing: head-to-toe Topman? "All Topman. Except for the jacket, it's Neil Barrett. I was told to wear Topman but I couldn't find it this morning when I was rumagging." Apparently Brandon rolled out of bed "four minutes" before the Green limo was due to depart. So, as he can put together a look like that in four minutes, does Brandon plan to do a Chloe and design his own line?
"Personally I have no intention of designing. I stick with my dad, I started working with him about a year ago [in the business side of Arcadia]. But obviously as dad says product is the key part of any business, and in fashion, no matter how good you are at the business part you have to be involved in the product too. Topman I think is performing as well as any brand in the high street. Globally across the world Topman is the business in the Arcadia group which is performing hands-down, the best..".
And does he ever get his dad to try and different look? "No - I wouldn't even try!" - Luke Leitch, deputy fashion editor, The Daily Telegraph.
12:45 WAKE UP CALL
12:30 POCKET ROCKETS
It's all about a pocket square at the moment don't you know? Check out these dapper dan's rocking the shows today. I say!
12:00 COOL MAN LUKE
Luke Day the Editor of GQ Style - and a stylist of some renown - has fully mastered the fashion Rock God look. For those who want to "Steal His Style" Luke's wearing a James Long shirt, various chains (Gucci, Jade Jagger, and a "God" medallion he bought in the church of Browns), plus some Topman Design jeans. Shows at the top of Luke's list are James Long and Martine Rose, plus MAN. He said: "we should all appreciate that without Topman there wouldn't be a London mens' fashion week at all." That suntan he added, not fake: he's just back from holiday. - Luke Leitch, deputy fashion editor, The Daily Telegraph.
11:50 HACKETT GET INTO GREAT GATSBY MODE
PHOTOS: Phillip Hollis
Hackett harked back to a lost, glorious, halcyon age this morning - the time when bankers wore bowlers, carried brollies, and could be trusted. An 18-strong phalanx of models carrying the traditional City accessories and wearing dapper double and single breasted suits - some a bit too loud to be convincingly vintager banker - closed the label's show at the Royal Opera House. Elsewhere, there was a noble and determined push for paisley-printed trousers - a big womenswear trend - to translate into menswear. But I'm not sure about it will succeed. Spanish-owned Hackett usually riffs on Englishness but much of today's collection - the seersucker jackets, baker boy caps, cream lined peaked lapel suits and white brogues - had something a little Great Gatsby-ish about them. - Luke Leitch, deputy fashion editor, The Daily Telegraph.
The finale of city gents at Hackett. PJHOTO: Phillip Hollis
11:40 SOMETHING FOR THE LADIES
You know when a model's really big, because they sit front row instead of pounding the catwalk: David Gandy front row at Hackett.
PHOTO: mrporterlive / Instagram
11:06 SPENCER SOULBOY
Spencer Hart is a show to watch out for this afternoon - Benedict Cumberbatch and womenswear are set for catwalk cameos. Nick Hart said last night his collection this time round is going to be heavily music-influenced, then started reminiscing about competing in Soulboy dance-offs at a nightclub called Crackers. "I was a terrible dancer, though." - Luke Leitch, deputy fashion editor, The Daily Telegraph.
10:55 LOU DALTON
For spring/summer 2013 Lou Dalton has shifted her focus from the battle fields of WW1 to the playing fields of a very modern age. It was more 'sport luxe' than sportswear however, with a major focus on combining discordant fabrics. Panels of suede were added to cotton shirts. Velvet and jersey are combined on sweat tops. Airtex panels added a pleasing texture to sharply tailored jackets. Tailoring in general was very strong - and heavily structured thanks to a generous use of panelling. Alexa Chung arrived with British Fashion Council chairman Harold Tilman giving us the first front row pap frenzy of London Collections: Men; while swimmer Mark Foster and Frankie Goes to Hollywood singer Hollie Johnson were also in attendance. - David Nicholls, Design Editor, The Telegrpah Magazine.
PHOTOS: Chris Pledger
10:45 Is Liam Gallagher the new Paul Smith? The Oasis... sorry, Beady Eye singer's Beatles/Mod influence brand, Pretty Green, is to open a standalone store in Tokyo next month. He's already got 11 shops in Britain. - Luke Leitch, deputy fashion editor, The Daily Telegraph.
10:30 BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN WEBSTER
Stephen Webster kicked off the inaugural London Collections: Men shows with a busy-for-9-in-morning breakfast at Hix for his new mens jewellery collection. Called 'Highwayman', it was inspired by his yearly cross-America roadtrips (in his wheels of choice, a rather cool vintage Thunderbird). Hence, necklaces and bracelets centred on roadsigns and rings came as "rotating wheels". A chirpy Webster told Team Telegraph that he was planning on doing another sojourn from Colorado to the Napa Valley this year - "It's the only time I can get away from my family!". His road buddy of choice? "My mechanic!" Sensible man.
Mmmmmmushroom's with creme fraiche at Stephen Webster.
The Red Snapper cocktails (gin and tomato juice and fancy fry-ups served were top notch, but Webster had another trick up his sleeve. Taking to the bar-cum-catwalk, he annouced there was going to be a show. What he didnt tell us was that Martin Kemp, Gary Kemp and Nicky Clarke would be among the models. They goodnaturedly did their best Zoolanders and everyone cheered - although Kemp got rather bashful when we asked for a picture of his best Blue Steel. Clarke and Webster had no such reservations, though - check out their pouts. Early contenders for best BS of the week? - Phong Luu, Fashion Features Co-ordinator, The Daily Telegraph
Stephen Webster and Nicky Clarke pull their best Blue Steels for our camera.
Nicky Clarke, Stephen Webster, Martin Kemp and Gary Kemp strut their stuff. PHOTO: Phillip Hollis
10:00 ALEXA ARRIVES
No London fashion event would be complete without the British Fashion Council's Young Style ambassador, Miss Alexa Chung...
9:50 AND WE"RE OFF!
The first London Collections: Men kicks off proper this morning with... a breakfast. Why is it men can't do anything on an empty stomach? Jeweller Stephen Webster is playing host - more of this later. While we're waiting for the first show to begin (Lou Dalton 10am live streamed above), news has reached our inbox of the first bit of celebrity catwalk action. Sherlock Holmes AKA benedict Cumberbatch, will 'walk' in Spencer Hart's show today at 5pm. Spencer Hart dressed Benedict Cumberbatch for the BAFTA TV awards and the Golden Globes this year. If you're in Benedict's fan club - affectionately known as 'The Cumberbitches', get thee to the Old Selfridges Hotel where you might catch a glimpse of the man himself. Just don't tell him i sent you...
THURSDAY JUNE 14
PRINCE CHARLES: FASHION ICON? ME?
At a reception at St James Palace to officially launch London Collections: Men, Prince Charles batted off suggestions he was a sartorial icon. Luke Leitch went along to meet His Royal Highness and ask the all important question: what are you wearing? Read all about his adventures here...
Prince Charles takes the mic. PHOTO: REX
And here are our favourite pics from the glamorous soiree:
David Walliams meets Charles: "I asked Charles what he wears. He said mostly Primark, but George at Asda too: he likes to mix it up." PHOTO: REX
Tom Ford meets Prince Charles: Who's your tailor? Call me, not that guy next to me... don't call him... don't even look at him... PHOTO: REX
Source: fashion.telegraph.co.uk
Kent council boss made redundant after 16 months gets £420,000 payout - The Guardian
The former boss of a Conservative-run council received a £420,000 payout when she left the authority after just 16 months in the job, it has emerged.
Katherine Kerswell was made redundant from Kent county council last December just over a year after introducing a £340m cuts plan that will see 1,500 staff leave the council in the next four years.
Kent council initially refused to divulge the terms of her redundancy package but was forced to publish the payout this week under recently introduced local government transparency rules.
Kerswell, who joined the authority as managing director on a £200,000 annual salary in March 2010, received £589,000 in total remuneration last year, after her pay and pension contributions were taken into account.
She was the architect of a controversial savings programme known as the Change to Keep Succeeding plan, which will see 1,500 staff leave the council by 2015.
Kent said it had decided to abolish the position of council chief executive, and said Kerswell's role would not be filled. It decided instead to place the management role in the hands of the council leader and a senior team of directors. "Removing chief executive posts is what more and more councils should be doing," Carter said.
But trade unions asked why the council had hired Kerswell on such extravagant terms if they knew she would only be in place for a short term.
David Lloyd, secretary of the Kent local government branch of Unison, said: "When the previous chief executive left why didn't they do a feasibility study then of whether another CEO was needed? It's bad planning by the politicians."
He added: "Feelings are running high locally. The anger I'm picking up is with the council, not Katherine Kerswell.
"So many people here have lost their jobs. It's frontline staff and low-paid women workers who have taken a hit, and it doesn't seem fair."
The redundancy payout was defended by the council leader Paul Carter, who said employment law and contractual obligations dictated the size of the payout. Carter, who appointed Kerswell, said her departure "would save a fortune in the long term".
It is understood that soon after Kerswell's appointment relations soured with senior Tory group councillors who were said to be unhappy at being excluded from top-level decisions. "She had contrived to upset a lot of councillors. They felt she tried to bypass them a lot of the time," one local source said.
Unison said it had concerns that in the absence of a chief executive the council would now become a "politically run" council with no separation of political leaders and officials.
But Carter said: "Our council is now being guided by officers who have worked their way up and know what life is like from a Kent taxpayers' perspective."
The council said it had saved £1m in senior staff salaries over the past year, as a result of the reorganisation. But its draft annual accounts reveal that it paid out over £10m in severance payments in 2011-12 as nearly 1,000 staff left the authority. The council's former finance director Lynda McMullan received a £179,000 payout.
The government has consistently attacked high salaries paid to local government chief executives. The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, has called for authorities to abolish the chief executive role as a cost-saving measure.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Our rates are approx 800 BPD's a year . We have one of the best rubbish pick ups in the World - so ask your councils what are they doing to justify your very expensive rates - why don't you form action groups and refuse to pay your rates until they justify them .
- Eric Grinham , Dee Why , Australia, 16/6/2012 03:29
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