Page 64 - BR April 2024 - converted
P. 64
April 2024 April 2024
Where exceptions are provided for in law and once final regulations have been
Convalescent Blues provided, Dorset Council will adopt and apply such exceptions. The council
website will be updated as soon as this information is available.
You trained to be a soldier, so you think in black and white.
You do what you are told, and you are told what’s wrong and right. Council approves a balanced budget
Of time spent convalescing, there was nothing ever said. Dorset Council’s budget of £377 million for 2024-25 has been approved by
No suggestion of a stigma, or of problems in your head. councillors at the Full Council meeting on 13 February. This continues the council’s
When you signed up for your country, and they taught you how to kill, commitment to maintain frontline services, without the need for cuts to balance
No-one ever mentioned that these things can make you ill. the budget.
It is not on the agenda. It is one of the taboos, This year’s budget setting exercise once again took place against a national
When instead of wearing green, you wear the convalescent blues. background of extreme pressures for councils. These pressures include the high
level of inflation which affects the cost of delivering council services, and also the
continued growth in need for services that we provide to some of our most
When you came back to your homeland, your head was in a mess vulnerable residents.
You had no broken bones but you had post-traumatic stress. Dorset Council provides around 450 different services to just under 380,000
That’s the words they use when it’s spoken of today. residents.
The only thing you know, is that it will not go away. While Dorset Council is not in the same financial position as many other councils
When you signed up for your country, and they taught you how to kill, across the UK, council tax will increase next year by just under 3 per cent and the
No-one ever mentioned that these things can make you ill. adult social care precept by 2 per cent. The increase is equivalent to £1.82 extra
It is not something you’d want. It is not something you’d choose, per week for a Band D property.
When instead of wearing green, you wear the convalescent blues.
Your wife says that she really doesn’t know you anymore.
She says that you have changed from how you used to be before.
As she tries to get her head around this post-traumatic stuff,
She says she does her best, but her best is just not good enough.
When you signed up for your country, and they taught you how to kill,
No-one ever mentioned that these things can make you ill.
You know that you’ve got
everything to lose,
When instead of wearing green,
you wear the convalescent
blues.
Paul J Openshaw
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