Our Town Mayor, Mayor Bob, has announced recently that he is intending to stand for election as a City Councillor. Since then, there have been letters in the Morley Obtiser suggesting that this is unprecedented and that he should stand down & let the deputy Mayor fill in for him. The suggestion is that as the first Citizen of Morley, he is in a position to obtain the electoral equivalent of pecuniary advantage by being so well known etc.

Excuse me? Bob is a pillar of the community, a well respected retired head teacher, a Justice of the Peace and a man with integrity in his blood. He isn’t some sleazy party politician and others shouldn’t judge him on their own low standards.

Let us look it this slightly more objectively. Despite all the hype of Morley Mayorship, behind the fancy chains and colourful robes the role is simply the Chairman of Morley Parish Council, a minor authority that has chosen to use the words Town and Mayor as they sound a lot better and hark back to the glory years before 1974 when Morley was proud of what it had become. All Town Councillors finish their term of office on May 3rd, as do two of the Morley Councillors on Leeds City Council. The hustings haven’t opened yet so it is by no means certain who will manage to fill their forms in correctly, let alone get elected.

It is now widely known by those interested in Morley local politics (probably about fifty people!) that I have decided not to stand for re-election on the Town Council. I won’t comment on this too much whilst I am still a Member because the standards in public life rules are rather overbearing. This is the standard stitch-up when the parties play politics as vexatious litigants:

Allegation: A member failed to treat others with respect, brought his office or authority into disrepute, misused the authority’s resources, failed to declare personal interests, failed to withdraw from meetings when matters in which he had prejudicial interests were discussed and improperly sought to influence decisions on the matters.

Often followed by:

SBE Outcome: The Ethical Standards Officer found that no action needs to be taken.

Don’t believe me? Surf the Standards Board for England!

She sang Jazz in the 50’s,
wrote songs in the 60’s
and acted in 75.
When she crashed in Paris
and died for a minute
she was full of herself
and full of the future.

And she was beautiful.
She was radiant but broken.
For she knew her soul had gone ahead
to hold the right door open.

Oh, she kept on singin’
and dancin’ and ringin’
the same bells that she rang before
but she wasn’t looking for beauty now
she was lookin’ for the door.
And we all looked for it in darkness together
and we looked for it in light
and we looked for it in worlds that
only existed at night.

Then one day she went to pieces
with the whole world lookin’ on
and now she’s just another loser
on beautifulloser.com

So the world kept turnin’
and we got into learnin’
how to be all grown up and tough
and we all turned into doctors
and lawyers and stuff.
But it was good to know she was out there
being free for everyone
while someone bad was dreaming up
beautifulloser.com

She was beautiful.
She was radiant but broken.
For she knew her soul had gone ahead
to hold the right door open.

Now she’s back in the business
with a smaller apartment
and a whole new set of dreams
and a small time agent who’s
guaranteeing to get her face
on a million screens.
So she went to a few auditions
but she couldn’t get a part.
They were always after a younger woman
someone full of herself
and full of the future.

But this weird little kid he kept coming around
and banging on her door sayin’
“Lady I work for this web site
I know you’d be perfect for.
But they won’t care about your redemption
and they don’t allow wounds to heal.
The customers like you broken.
It’s a take it or leave it deal.”

Now she lies in the shadows
and dies for the camera
and she’ll do what you want her to do
whilst tryin’ to hang onto
the memory of a young girl
so full of herself
and full of the future.

And she was beautiful.
She was radiant but broken
‘cause she knew her soul was up ahead
holding the right door open.

So she filled her room with flowers
and she wrote to everyone
but she never said a single word
about beautifulloser.com.
She said she was living in India
where the air was clear and still
and every soul’s got a private door
that you can pass through at will.

Then she took down all her mirrors
and broke ‘em one by one
while I was busy getting rich
off beautifulloser.com

And her heart was achin’
her hands were shakin’
and she knew her soul was out there waitin’.
So with the whole world lookin’ on
she put a shotgun in her mouth
on beautifulloser.com

And she was beautiful.
She was beautiful.
She was beautiful.
Oh so beautiful.
She was beautiful.
She was beautiful.
She was beautiful.

© Godley / Gouldman

Hear a snip here then buy it!