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Former Tory mayor, 67, died in a crack den after putting a plastic bag over his head and tying himself to a chair while seeking sexual pleasure, inquest hears

A former Tory Mayor suffocated to death in a crack den after putting a plastic bag over his head and tying himself to a chair while seeking sexual pleasure, an inquest heard.

The body of Les Winwood, 67, who was the former mayor of Bridgenorth, Shropshire, was found at a Wolverhampton property on July 17, 2022.

An inquest heard how a post-mortem examination found he had spent hours alone consuming crack cocaine and vodka before he was found dead in a camping chair in the market town of Bilston.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14492185/Former-Tory-mayor-67-died-crack-den-putting-plastic-bag-head-tying-chair-seeking-sexual-pleasure-inquest-hears.html

Stephen Milligan de nos jours.

So unnecessary. This, of course, is the correct way to get high in Bridgenorth:

There are no Es in Bridgnorth :-)

Hence the crack cocaine.

Keir Starmer's tone towards civil servants has been "nothing short of disastrous" according to a former cabinet secretary - the highest official in the civil service.

Lord Gus O’Donnell served under three prime ministers as cabinet secretary between 2005 and 2011, and he tells BBC’s Radio 4’s PM programme that Starmer’s rhetoric around the “flabby state” has been damaging for his relationship with civil servants.

He explains: “Believe it or not, if you talk to civil servants and say they like managed decline and that you're going to take a chainsaw to them - do you think that's actually going to result in them performing at their best?"

As for the decision to scrap NHS England, O’Donnell suggests this has also been “chaotic”, but may save “a relatively small amount of money”.

“If they can turn this into a way of making better decisions which leads to improvements in our health service then I think it will be justified,” he says, adding that he’s not so sure if this is what will happen.

The scrapping of the NHS ( England) does look like an absolute catastrophe. Kemi Badenoch is supporting the move!

Kemi hasn't said anything about it, Davey backs Starmer's decision despite the fact it was the Coalition government he was in that created NHS England in the first place so day to day running of the NHS was overseen by an independent body not the Department of Health.

In fact 'Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart cast doubts over the decision, saying Sir Keir Starmer has yet to set out "how this is going to make life better for patients" or "how much money he is going to save by doing it".

https://www.itn.co.uk/news/conservatives-react-nhs-england-abolishment-0

I just heard it on the BBC R4 6 o clock news. Kemi is on board. She said the Government will now be measured on NHS progress as they are now directly in the driving seat They can't blame anyone else.

So no she is NOT on board as such she said it was Starmer and Streeting's decision not hers and if it fails to make life better for patients or significant savings then the Opposition will blame the government

She ( and Hunt) seemed less hostile than you do to overturning Lansley's reforms.

Not their decision, though Kemi was notably less enthusiastic than Hunt anyway it is LABOUR who scrapped it and LABOUR who will be responsible for ALL the job losses and LABOUR who will be responsible for lack of NHS improvement

As a Conservative, shouldn't you be supporting getting rid of as many quango's as possible?

Being a working class Northerner, how do you lot pronounce Leominster?

I've pronounced it Lemster my entire life but somebody I heard the other day called it Leo Minster.

As a child did somebody play a cruel trick on me by telling me it was pronounced Lemster?

I think it's Lemster?

Never unless you are mental

It is pronounced Lemster, I have googled it.

Things which Malcolm gets entertainingly angry about #342: the pronunciation of 'Leominster'. Top quality stuff.

A leopard doesn't change its spots.

And yet leotards come with or without spots. And Pilates doesn't rhyme with pirates (sadly).

Evening all, been absent for a couple of weeks due to the arrival of mini Selebian number 4. All good, little lad and mum doing well; three adoring elder siblings fighting over cuddles

What do we think about the worlds biggest contrarian, general know it all and expert on everything, Peter Hitchens, saying that Dyslexia is a made up illness and a load of shit?

Anyone on PB with Dyslexia?

My middle daughter has it. It is fascinating and definitely a thing. She is intelligent in many respects - she's at a grammar school - but words and letters dance for her. She is also regularly astonished to find she has been assuming for years spellings which don't exist - e.g. Vimpto - because her spelling is based so much on hearing rather than sight.
It often comes with other mental traits, such as creativity, absent-mindedness, and untidiness. She has it in spades and makes her who she is. It has not, on balance, held her back (though the determination with which she worked through 'word wasp' (a spelling system aimed at dyslexic people) was possibly the hardest I have ever seen anyone work, ever) and makes her who she is.

Former Tory mayor, 67, died in a crack den after putting a plastic bag over his head and tying himself to a chair while seeking sexual pleasure, inquest hears

A former Tory Mayor suffocated to death in a crack den after putting a plastic bag over his head and tying himself to a chair while seeking sexual pleasure, an inquest heard.

The body of Les Winwood, 67, who was the former mayor of Bridgenorth, Shropshire, was found at a Wolverhampton property on July 17, 2022.

An inquest heard how a post-mortem examination found he had spent hours alone consuming crack cocaine and vodka before he was found dead in a camping chair in the market town of Bilston.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14492185/Former-Tory-mayor-67-died-crack-den-putting-plastic-bag-head-tying-chair-seeking-sexual-pleasure-inquest-hears.html

Stephen Milligan de nos jours.

Nice to see not all Tory traditions were dumped post-Brexit

Keir Starmer's tone towards civil servants has been "nothing short of disastrous" according to a former cabinet secretary - the highest official in the civil service.

Lord Gus O’Donnell served under three prime ministers as cabinet secretary between 2005 and 2011, and he tells BBC’s Radio 4’s PM programme that Starmer’s rhetoric around the “flabby state” has been damaging for his relationship with civil servants.

He explains: “Believe it or not, if you talk to civil servants and say they like managed decline and that you're going to take a chainsaw to them - do you think that's actually going to result in them performing at their best?"

As for the decision to scrap NHS England, O’Donnell suggests this has also been “chaotic”, but may save “a relatively small amount of money”.

“If they can turn this into a way of making better decisions which leads to improvements in our health service then I think it will be justified,” he says, adding that he’s not so sure if this is what will happen.

The scrapping of the NHS ( England) does look like an absolute catastrophe. Kemi Badenoch is supporting the move!

Why? The NHS is the main job of the Department of Health. Why do you need the Department of Health if not to run the NHS?

My reservation, having faced him across the council chamber for eight years, is that I know that Streeting is, like many of his Labour colleagues, deep down a control freak. Whatever he says to the media about wanting to devolve decisions, I’ve seen him in action, and I know that isn’t his instinct, at all. In the council chamber he didn’t even trust his own backbenchers (with good reason, mind).

Meanwhile, in other news, sometimes our NHS does surprise on the upside. Last night I began to get some alarming problems with my eyesight, which it turns out are probably something many ageing people go through, but nevertheless might be a sign of, or lead to, something much more serious.

I went to the local optician this morning, hoping to see their expert, but they were fully booked all day. Instead they gave me the number of something I’ve never heard of - the community urgent eyecare service - and I phoned them when I got home. They’re based in Leeds and all have reassuring Yorkshire accents. The first person I spoke to ran through my symptoms and was able to summon up both my medical and opticians records at her end. She already had my mobile phone number and texted me a link to submit photos of my eyes, and promised that an ophthalmologist would phone within the hour. When she phoned, she gave me lots of info about what the likely problem was - which by then I had already found online, but many wouldn’t - and after all the reassurance, they committed to arrange an urgent appointment for me at an island optician just to make sure I wasn’t at any risk of eyesight loss. Meanwhile I got texted a link to the problem I most likely have (Posterior Vitreous Detachment, for anyone interested).

All this happened this morning - and is an impressive, almost Norwegian, level of service and fast response.