brennon

You know how you never take any notice of something until it actually affects you and then it seems to be everywhere; well I've had that experience at least twice in the last three years. 

The first ‘big' thing was when I was getting ready to leave the RAF after 38 years.  Knowing that few people seem to be keen to employ us old'uns (over 50s - 50 is not the new 40 when it comes to getting a job!), it seemed like becoming a driving instructor might be the answer, be your own boss, choose your hours, make good money, meet lots of different people, you've seen the adverts! 

Well, as soon as I started the training, every corner I turned whilst driving around Spalding, seemed to have a car with a driving school's name on it - how could a little place like Spalding have so many driving instructors in it? Where would my customers come from?  Of course, I hadn't allowed for the fact that Spalding was actually a test centre, so many of these cars were from places far and wide!  The point is, that until it affected me personally, I never gave all these driving school cars a second thought!

My most recent experience is to do with moving local services away from being local.  By coincidence, given my story above, local driving instructors are fighting the proposal to close the Spalding test centre.  Also, the local tax office is under threat of ‘rationalisation', ‘in order to provide a better service to the public'.  No doubt readers (are there any?) can think of two or three more local services that have disappeared over the years under the bull s..t excuse of improving services to the public.

Anyway, the piece of 'rationalisation' that has now effected me personally, is the location of specialist hospital treatment which, by yet another coincidence, was a story in Saturday's Telegraph.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1939162/NHS-shake-up-to-axe-hospital-services.html

The story said, that plans ‘were in the pipeline' to close many local treatment centres and move them to centralised locations (it actually said regional centres, but I hate that word - ‘regional' that is, not centres!).  What pipeline? Its already happend!  I've been told that if I want my treatment (surgery for Prostate cancer) I will have to go to Lincoln, because the good old NHS decided, at some point in the past, to stop doing this surgery in Boston. 

My wife is disabled, but luckily is still able to drive.  However, her overall health makes a 90 mile round trip (everyday if she has her way, for up to 7 days) a daunting prospect.  I could of course go private and still have the operation in Boston at the Bostonian - same hospital, same surgeon, (possibly quicker?) just loads of money!  I knew I should have taken out that private medical insurance when I left the RAF!  So that's what they mean by patient choice - take it, leave it or go private! 

So, yet again, until it was me personally, the story in the Telegraph might not have registered - not very much anyway.  Just to prove the point, the same thing applied when I got my diagnosis (the day before the Easter break).  That night a crime drama on the television had a prisoner dying of - guess what?  The next day the newspaper had a story about some bloke who was appealing against a fine or penalty of some sorts based on the fact that he was suffering/dying from - guess what?  Bl..dy hell, its just like all those driving school cars!

Incidentally, if you're a man over the age of 50, go to your doctor and ask for a blood test to check your Prostate specific antigen - NOW!  That's all it takes and it could save your life (I hope it will mine!).

I see in today's local newspaper that some members of the public continue to be unhappy about the leader's comments about the current level of remuneration for district councillors.  One of the writers is a long time critic of all things local government, no doubt based on his previous insider knowledge and now rather outdated experience.

These critics may well be right in their belief that the whole thing is getting out of hand and that those elected to represent the people of a ward or division, should do it for the love of it!  However, rather than targeting those actually doing the ‘job', they should consider directing their anger at this government and its predecessors, which have forced many lead members to become virtually full time representatives of their councils.  As such, is it fair to expect lead members to continue to be grateful for what they get?

Political commentators often remark these days on how the job of leading MPs has changed dramatically in recent years, with them having little or no time to do anything else.  It would appear that our political masters now feel that all levels of government should suffer the same fate!   

I'm no good with figures (as my bank manager will tell you),  but I'm sure some bean counter (that's my rather rude description for accountants) could produce a nice little chart showing what percentage of the council tax was available to be spent as the council saw fit 20 years ago, compared to today.  I'm sure I heard some ridiculously low figure of less than 10% now, compared to over 40% pre-1974.

The upshot of this is that, if the council wants to actually ‘do' anything other than collect the council tax, empty the bins and now catch stray dogs, they have to go to all sorts of different government agencies, quangoes, panels, boards, bodies, committees, etc, etc, etc, to plead for the cash. 

The government keeps telling us that councils are at the heart of their communities and that they should be leading on just about anything and everything - health improvement, binge drinking, crime reduction, ASBOs, global warming, carbon footprint, place shaping, community cohesion, equality and diversity, the voluntary sector - you name it, we should be leading on it!

Don't get me wrong, I think these are all important issues and that those of us who are directly elected should be the ones responsible for making the world a better place for people to live in, in any way we can - bring it on!

However, somebody has to keep running around with the South Holland begging bowl and making the case for giving us the money that central government keeps waving under our noses - be good boys and girls and you can have a share of this particular pot - but only if you really convince us that you deserve it!

So, unlike in the good old days, when elected members were able to make some real decisions on how to spend the money raised via council tax and government grant, they are now required to go begging for it.  Sorry, I meant ‘bid for it by making a case based on a well evidenced business plan, ensuring that it addresses all those areas that the government consider to be a priority'.

Whether we like it not, elected members and in particular leaders (coz they won't listen to anybody if they don't have leader somewhere in their title, I'm told) now have to scurry around the various corridors of power, making the case to get a share of some particular cash pot, on behalf of the people they represent.    

So, until the government stops being control freaks and starts passing on the ‘tax dollars', without making everybody in local government jump through hoops, every time they come up with a new priority, the situation is only going to get worse.

The debate rumbles on and the first casualty, if you can him that, has been recorded.  No doubt he had his reasons for choosing to do what he's done, but if he'd stuck it out he could of been far more influential in the outcomes.

The Civic Society continues to rail against the principle of selling the land that the Castle Sports sits on to fund a new sports village.  Their main reason seems to be more to do with the loss of the green open space than the displacement of the Castle Sports to another location. 

Others keep telling us that we're not listening, or paying attention to the results of the consultation.  Unfortunately, these people are being very selective about the sticks they pick up to beat us with i.e. 'we want it to remain where it is or be very close to the same place', whilst ignoring some of the other 'sticks' that don't suit their case, i.e. 'we want the place to remain open whilst the new one is being built'. 

I was going to put the following questions into Survey Monkey, but given the response to my Wygate Park community centre survey - zilch! I'm just going to list them below and people can come back to me if they want to answer them.  Then again, if you want to answer them as a survey, follow this link and fill yer boots!

Click Here to take survey 

Questions about the Castle Sports Complex (CSC) and Leisure Options

1.  Should the CSC be refurbished or replaced?

2.  Should the CSC remain where it is, even if it is replaced?

3.  Is the fact that over 25,000 of the 78,000 people who live South Holland, live in Spalding, a good enough reason for the CSC to remain in the middle of Spalding?

4.  Is it fair to the rest of South Holland's taxpayers that the CSC is in the middle of Spalding?

5.  Would you care where the CSC moved to, if the useable green space remained available for Spalding people to use?

6.  How should the refurbishment or replacement of the CSC be paid for?

7.  Whatever happens to the CSC, should the Halley Stewart Field remain closed off to the public, or should it be opened up for everybody to use as a public park?

When is a pedestrian area not a pedestrian area?  When it's in Lincoln apparently.

If you've ever visited Brayford Wharf in Lincoln, you'll know that it is designed to encourage people to use the river side for leisure including a multi-screen cinema, several bars and a number of places to eat. 

The area is a great asset for Lincoln and I wasn't surprised to see how busy it was this bank holiday, with people using all the places on offer and just bimbling (sorry old military phrase from my days in the Falkland Islands, it means going for a ride or walk just for something to do - there's not a lot to do in the Falklands you know!)

Anyway enough war stories, with all these people walking about enjoying themselves, it's a really good idea to prevent cars etc driving around or parking on the wharf area.  Unfortunately, without anybody policing it, the wharf has a constant stream of cars moving around and parking up where they like despite the ‘not at any time' signs.  It's still the police's job to enforce parking laws by the way, just in case you were wondering.

Whilst sitting in one of the eateries I watched a driver have the bloody cheek to blast his horn at a young couple who had the never to be walking along the pedestrianised area in front of his car!  The couple scurried out of the way and the driver accelerated away as if to confirm his absolute right not to be delayed by these damned pedestrians!  If it had been me I wouldn't have done any scurrying, I would have given the bloke in question the reverse of the Churchill victory sign!

Stupid thing is, there is a hotel in the middle of the wharf area and the only access is along the pedestrian walking area, so these cars are allowed to be there, they just aren't allowed to park, which several were also doing, thereby restricting the areas that were safe for pedestrians to walk along.  Completely barmy piece of planning I say! Come on Lincoln City pedestrians before cars please!    

Take every paint pot you can find in your garage and I know there are at least a dozen different ones (there's 30 odd in mine!) pour them all in to a bucket and mix - what do you get? 

Well, that of course depends on the actual colours and the amounts used, but in most cases you'll get a muddy looking non-colour that is not much use for anything, you certainly wouldn't want to use it for any important jobs.  What is he on about now? I hear you cry!  Well, (starting a sentence with well again - it's that comprehensive education again!)  I'm using this rather poor analogy to represent what can happen when you take kids of wildly varying abilities (colours) throw them in to the same class (pot) and stir; which leads me on to the subject of my latest whinge. 

The renewed attack on grammar schools by 50+ labour MPs, as highlighted in an earlier entry, has disappeared from the front pages, but not from their agenda I'm sure.  The damage to the education of bright pupils, who have been denied access to the type of education that would be available via a selection system, is confirmed in a report in today's Daily Telegraph  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1547591/Bright-pupils-'dragged-down'.html

To date, I haven't had anybody come back to me to explain how the existance of grammar schools dis-advantage those being educated in secondary or comprehensive schools (you know I've never been able to figure out the difference - must be something to do with my sub-standard comprehensive school education).  However, this story seems to offer some evidence that the lack of access to a grammar school really does screw things up for some kids!