[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Opv9XtMtOE]
Local popular beat combo the QELD have gone done another music video, entitled ‘28 Draws Later’, and it’s very Hallowe’eny. No red trousers were harmed in the making of this.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QitHqpaFFZU]
Some suitably ghoulish vintage Lib Dem shenanigans courtesy of ‘everyone’s favourite bully’, former chair of Bristol Labour Darren Lewis – you may need to explain to any small children that these people actually used to RUN THE CITY!
Happy Hallowe’en and don’t have nightmares!
‘No’, Councillor Gary Hopkins, watercolour & crayon, 2013, guriben
This third entry from @guriben for the GARY HOPKINS comp got mysteriously left off the poll by mistake – stewards’ enquiry is expected – foul play suspected…
[polldaddy poll=7465155]
Right, polling is now open – and will remain open until 5pm, Monday 4 November 2013 – so now is the time to choose the portrait which you think best encapsulates Bristol City Council’s GARY HOPKINS, Lib Dem councillor for Knowle.
There’s a £5 bag of meat (or meat substitute) at stake for the artists, so please poll responsibly…
Over the last twenty years a group of organisations has handled advice, support, housing and other services for people with drug and alcohol problems in Bristol. Overseen by the ‘Safer Bristol’ Substance Misuse Team (SMT) bodies such as Bristol Drugs Project (BDP) and the Addiction Recovery Agency (ARA) handled different parts of the service to aid the recovery and support of addicts.
Earlier this year some idiot (thought to be head of the SMT Sue Bandcroft) decided to unleash the FREE MARKET on these services by asking BDP, ARA and other organisations to bid for a much-reduced budget slashed by Con-Dem austerity measures. The result? Like tossing a bone to a bunch of starving dogs – yes, a dog fight ensued, creating chaos for drug workers and their clients across the city as ARA, BDP and the others fought it out for a pitiful pot of money.
Overseeing this mess in July, Bandcroft and the SMT, throwing decades of addiction experience to the wind, went with the CHEAPEST BIDS, causing whole parts of the service to be relocated and reorganised. Then they promptly washed their hands and walked away from it all, leaving ARA, BDP and other services in chaos. The heads of BDP and ARA both knew in April that undercutting each other for the Con-Dem bone would lead to massive cuts in the services and redundancies, but they refused to inform their employees of the situation until it was a done deal.
On Friday 1st November (D-Day) demoralised drug workers will find out if they still have a job after the expected 30% REDUNDANCIES – and clients will be forced to relocate as drug services are passed from one organisation to another like a crazy ‘pass-the-parcel’. The SMT will sit like a dysfunctional Pontius Pilate behind its laughable statement “the re-commissioning places the clients at the centre of the process”, while employees and clients will ask…
‘Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?’
Councillor Simon Cook, pencil & watercolours, 2013, @guriben
Here’s @guriben’s eerie take on actor Simon Cook, who in his spare time is the yin to Christian Martin’s yang as a Lib Dem councillor for Clifton East, as well as mismanaging the leisure, tourism, licensing and community safety portfolio within Mayor George Ferguson’s Cabinet. Just in time for Hallowe’en!
If Bristol City Council doesn’t snap him up soon as its official artist, then he will likely be snapped up by South Gloucestershire, BANES or – worst of all – North Somerset…
Councillor Gary Hopkins, ink and brush, 2013, Jeff from Bedminster
The entries for the Official BRISTOLIAN Gary Hopkins Portrait Meat Raffle Competition are coming in thick and fast – this just in via email from Jeff in Bedminster.
In the words of the artist:
Ive been a bit to kind i think but still…
Remember, voting for the best portrait takes place all next week!
Councillor Gary Hopkins, ballpoint pen, 2013, @guriben
An exquisite entry into the Official BRISTOLIAN Gary Hopkins Portrait Meat Raffle Competition from prolific local artist @guriben.
Don’t forget to vote for your favourite next week!
Councillor Christian Martin, watercolour, 2013, Guriben
That @guriben is shaping up to be practically artist-in-residence for The BRISTOLIAN – here’s his take on the Lib Dems’ Clifton East councillor, Chris ‘Not That One’ Martin.
As the paint-thrower himself noted:
what was this gel-haired twats name again?
Draw, paint or etch Councillor Gary Hopkins – WIN a £5 BAG of MEAT!
The unexpected success of the BRISTOLIAN Gallery – and in particular the number of renderings of Gary Hopkins – means that the mooted GARY HOPKINS PORTRAIT MEAT RAFFLE COMPETITION is GO!
With a stupendous prize of a £5 BAG OF FINEST BRISTOL MEAT* up for grabs for the best likeness of BCC’s Councillor Who Most Looks Like A Seventies TV Cop, who wouldn’t want to enter?
5pm, Monday 28 October 2013
5pm, Monday 4 November 2013
The prize winner will be announced at 9am on Tuesday 5 November – to jointly celebrate art, Hopkins, and Bonfire Night!
LET BATTLE COMMENCE!