“What a joke of a society we live in.

What on earth would possess any sane person to vote for such a paycut. I mean Jimmy Bullard must be laughing his socks off.

What sort of a world are we living in ????”

“Stu wrong the people who caused this mess were a stupid bunch of politicians who borrowed £1,400,000,000,000. But the worst of this article is what I said at the begining. I wouldn't get out of bed for that and the reason is on the dole I get £282 + £450 rent + £80 council tax which equals £812 a month thats without free dental and perscriptions pet care and can be classed as after tax so is worth around £1000 so who except a fool would get out of bed for less as a councillor.”

“Tony, Hull - Two words on who put us in this mess - Tory Bankers!

Yes greedy, rich, middle class tory bankers.....”

“Ranter, you are not a rare breed.

You are a person who actually believes you are some how different to all the others, and if elected you seem to think you would, somehow, upset people by wanting to help others.

I have news for you, irrespective of the political colours of 95% of councillors, they are elected to work for the people who elected them and do the work despite what you may think

So you would just be another hard working caring councillor who answers the phone at 10.30 pm from some poor soul asking for the address of the battered wife's centre because the hubby is on the way home with a skin-full.

You will get your car out of the garage, if you have one.

Race down to get her and the children out before its too late and just hope she can find some one who will look after her and the children a dam site better than she has been looked after in the past.

That is how some of the work of a councillor pans out.

So ranter, if your just a talker and not a doer, then don't bother.

Because you could be the cause of a woman getting a good hiding because you wont get out of your nice warm house to help the person who elected you and they have a right to expect better.”

“Perhaps if all the councillors in the East Riding took a 5% pay & expenses cut and gave an additional £6500 of this years salary to Sue Lockwoods pay off we might forgive them for spending our money like water £6500 from all the councillors should just about cover teh £365,00 she recieved from her own deptments budget - this moneypot includes flood repair money, new schools money etc etc - See Private Eye for details. Election for the whole ERYC next year!”

“Colin, you can bleat like a fluffy little lamb all you like about the lib dems and the Torys but at the end of the day it was the Labour party that were in power for the last 13 years which is why there will be so many cuts, because the Labour party ruined this Country End of story.”

“This is appalling. Up the salaries, lets get some talented people on the council and make it a job people aspire to do.

No wonder Hull gets nothing in terms of extra investment and funding when you have a group of people who are on sub-average salaries running the show.

HULL NEEDS TALENT!!!!!”

“Well, here goes, throw in my tuppence-worth and quickly duck.....

This is populist grandstanding of the worst sort, no doubt prompted by most local Lib Dems cringing embarrassment at what their national leadership is doing in justifying the insult of "Yellow Tories" and preparing to slash and burn across the Public Sector on the flimsiest of ideological excuses and not even their ideology. The "Lying Dutchman", Mr. Clegg, has really taken them all for a ride.

All Councillors' allowances have already been frozen for the past four years, unlike Local Authority employees.

I have much sympathy for the "pay peanuts get monkeys" argument and the simple fact is few if any employers now will tolerate ANY time off work to undertake Council activity, just ask those few who do still work, the rest of us have to try and work around them so they can cling on to their jobs.

I don't believe any, well not many, join the fray for the money but we do still have to eat and pay the bills and ultimately it is a 24/7 job, believe me, if you can't get any other help your local Councillor is usually the answer regardless of when!

Some of us could have made a lot more money doing other things and be enjoying a comfortable retirement now but we've chosen to take another course, hoping to improve the City and society we live in. I don't expect sympathy for that, my choice but I do expect at least a minimum wage for what I do and any sensible citizen would want their elected representatives to be in that position.

Actually, I've never been offered a "brown envelope" for any reason but you can see how that culture might have tempted people in the past when there was little or no recompense for many hours work and stress. Do we really want to go back to that and you do have to go back to, maybe the 1930's to find any definite evidence of that sort of corruption in Hull, despite wild rumours or unsubstantiated innuendo that gets put about.

So to recap, populist grandstanding, Carl really must be getting worried about being "wiped out" next May and the real cuts haven't even started yet, with the Spending Review not due to report until October.

It'll be a bleak Christmas in LD Land!”

“Paul the Mauler. Glad you got the meaning behind the name. I would love to be elected, but unfortunatly I am the type of guy who really would want to change peoples lives for the better, and not in it for my own ego. or how much money I could rip off the people I was supposed to represent.
A rare breed eh?.
I just wouldnt fit in with the majority of politicians.”

“This may be good PR, but it's not a sensible decision. We're going back to the days when only those who didn't need to earn a living could afford to be councillors. And why has HDM only given the figure for "senior politicians" rather than for back-bench councillors?”