Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad

Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad

Following the sad death of Les Sims a by-election is necessary to fill the (huge) gap left by his passing.  Tonight, local Conservative members and the Conservative Executive Group gathered to select candidates for the three seats left vacant; County Council, District Council and Town Council.

The room was packed, wall-to-wall, with well-known Conservative leaders, councillors, activists and members.  This is a particularly important by-election being (a) so close to the general election and (b) because Les Sims was such a notable and wonderful public servant that he leaves impossibly-large shoes to fill.

Particularly exciting were the number of candidates.  Gone are the days where the numbers were so low that it was a one-person or two-person fight to be selected.  Four or five potential candidates had put their names forward for every seat. 

The process is that each candidate gets five minutes to speak, then up to ten minutes of questions and answers from the floor.  At the end, a secret ballot is cast and a winner decided.  All candidates are invited to be present during the counting of the votes so that everything is open and clear.

I am proud of my fellow Conservatives tonight.  Not that I am not always proud of them, but tonight was special.  Anybody who says that Conservatives are not inclusive and open-minded, or that they are afraid of celebrating and supporting young people will be left scratching their heads this time.

In the first vote, for County Councillor, the winner was Samantha Hoy.  You might remember she joined Wisbech Town Council last year.  She was one of the founders of the Fens Conservative Future Group and is the current vice-chairman.  She is a talented and dedicated young woman.  She’s also only twenty-three!  In the face of incredibly stiff competition (the county council seat had the most applicants) she impressed everybody with her speech, her eloquence and her local knowledge.  She made a strong case for the value of youth and energy at county council and for the need to engage with voters of all age ranges.  To be quite honest, if the opposition candidates think they are going to get an easy ride here - boy are they in for a surprise!  As Sam said in her speech: “I will give them the fight of their lives!”  I do not believe the people of the division could have a more passionate, dedicated and powerful representative and I’ll be campaigning to make sure she gets the opportunity to do so.

The vote for Town Council had four applicants; though one withdrew at the last minute.  The winner of the seat was Steven Brunton (nickname: Stevo).  This year Stevo was elected the new chairman of the Conservative Future group in the area and is another young very strong candidate.  Stevo works with the St. John’s Ambulance team and with both local branches of the Conservatives (Hill & Staithe and Wisbech & District).  He is quiet and reserved (in a good way), but this is only a thin veneer over a great love of the town of Wisbech, a deep intelligence and a good nature second-t0-none.  Stevo would be a wonderful additional to our Town Council.

So there you go.  Three selections – and your local Conservatives, in a room which was dominated by people of my age and older (I don’t think they’ll mind me saying) choose two young people to represent us.  This is because Conservatism is not just for one group, or another group.  Not just for one income bracket or another.  Not just for one type of person or another.  Modern Conservatism is for everyone. 

As for the District Council seat (Kirkgate), I’m afraid we didn’t do the hat trick and elect three under-thirties.  But two out of three ain’t bad, as Meat Loaf used to say.  My colleagues kindly chose me.  I may not have the same energy as Sam and Stevo, but I hope I can match them in passion and old-fashioned ‘graft.  I take this selection extremely seriously, and if the people of Kirkgate vote for me next month then I will work like a dog to be worthy of that honour.

And here was me thinking I only had the Steve Barclay campaign to fit in!  Just as well I enjoy hard work.  It’s going to be a busy couple of months!

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day

Yesterday, apparently, was International Women’s Day.  How exciting.  A day put aside to: “celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women.”

I was going to ask, rather ironically: “But when is International Men’s Day?”.  Except there apparently IS one.  It’s November 19th.  So now you know.

I’m not really keen on this business of setting days aside for banner waving of one cause or another.  Sensible, intelligent people celebrate success, innovation and achievement every day.  If you have a ’special day’ you are essentially saying you can get on and ignore the item in question for the rest of the year.  And the more ’special days’ you have, the less impact they can achieve. 

Furthermore, I think its destructive and divisive to set groups aside in this manner.  Why does it matter which gender a person is if they’ve done something amazing?  Why do we have to point out that they are a man, or a woman, as if this is the significant part of their success?  They are an amazing human being.  That is what is significant. 

It all sounds a little patronising to me.  As if those people stood back one day and said: “Wow – that woman did something quite clever!” in amazement.  Do they walk around with their eyes closed?  Do they have no access to history books, newspapers and the media?  Don’t they have mothers, sisters and wives?

I reckon the only special days (outside of religious holidays) we need are birthdays, mothers’ and father’s days and St. George’s Day*.  As laudible as celebrating the cause of women, or men, or children, or grandparents, or the abolition of slavery, or poetry, or the invention of the wheel might be – we can do that any time we want to.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am surrounded by strong, intelligent, dynamic women.  I don’t need a special day for it – I see it and appreciate it every day.

*Controversially, I have a soft spot for Halloween too.  But we aren’t celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night.  We’re just watching horror movies and eating popcorn.  Hard to find a flaw in that.

You Get What You Pay For

You Get What You Pay For

I’ve recently returned from a few days in London.  I generally avoid driving to the capital.  It’s horrible.  Their “solutions’ to traffic issues seem to me to make matters worse.  The people who have designed this complicated system have taken a proud and beautiful city and systematically created a monster for the people who have the temerity to want to drive through it.

Interminable one-way systems lead from one clogged and crawling street to another, past the furiously blinking orange lights that mark endless roadworks.  Towering buildings encroach in upon you from all sides, suffocating in their claustrophic press, seemingly all held up most tenuously by a spiderweb of scaffolding.

It is entirely possible to be only half a mile from your destination and yet find that a relentless series of ‘no left turns’ mean that you are delivered ever-further from your intended destination, unable to do more than look miserably at the path to which you are petulantly denied.

Rows of buses obscure your view in every direction, occasionally forming up around you like mechanical sentinels sent to escort you or bully you, slowly and steadily, from the area.  Occasionally a tube station coughs up a flood of passengers who spill out onto the streets and roads, a cavalcade of busy businessmen, tousled tourists, confused commuters, suits, hats, shopping bags and luggage.

Pedestrians dash out in front of you without warning, ignoring personal safety, imminent peril and potential destruction in order to avoid a walk for a hundred yards to an actual crossing.  Cyclists weave in and out of the grinding traffic flow, their little plastic hats apparently making them entirely immune to damage from a collision with a vehicle dozens of times their size and weight, accompanied by the furious honking and hooting of startled drivers.

At one point a motorcyclist zoomed along the wrong side of the road as I was trying to turn after a set of lights had allowed me access to the side road.   The red bulb that should have held him in place, it seemed, did not apply if you were on a small vehicle and in a really big hurry.  It’s lucky one of us was paying attention or he’d be in plaster right now – or worse.

My thrice-damned satanic Sat Nav decided it didn’t want to find a valid signal for the better part of an hour, forcing me to drive – very, very, slowly – along a mystery route that was more drudgery than excitement in what I hoped was sort of the right direction.  A helpful parent shouted directions at me from a hands-free mobile phone, discovering quickly that Googlemaps doesn’t know which direction traffic is allowed to travel in and so can’t really help very much at all.  Luckily, just when I was about to give up and drive out of the city, the capricious device pinged happily and announced that it was no longer sulking – but ready to communicate.

I paid for all this.  The Congestion Charge, a trophy of a previous left-wing regime that has thankfully been relegated to history, was the recipient of my hard-earned pounds.  I remember, back when they wanted to introduce it in the first place, the sort of arguments they made.  That too many vehicles, road works and associated traffic problems were stifling the lifeblood of the city.  That a charge was necessary to “protect” the people from this blight.

Well, folks, the blight is still there.  It’s no better now that it used to be.  Except that now people are paying some additional tax for the privelige of moving from place to place – at a snail’s pace.  All that stress is being purchased for a few pounds a day.  Lucky us!

It is the left-wing mantra that the solution to everything is more tax, more regulation, more controls and more top-down government.  Their solutions do nothing to alleviate the problems – they generally make them worse and simultaneously more expensive.  These problems do exist, but stealing our money in order to throw it at them is no substitute for intelligent planning.  Ideas are more important than money when you have complex issues like this.

I paid a few pounds for the  Congestion Charge and I suppose I cannot argue that I got precisely what I paid for.  Congestion.

**Note:  Before other Londoners get ‘up in arms’ defending their roadworks and city chaos vs ‘an outsider’ – I was born in London too and spent the early years of my life there before moving to the outskirts – where I stayed until my thirties.  I have been born, lived, worked, played and travelled extensively in London throughout my life.

Free Speech And Censorship (Updated)

Free Speech And Censorship

While I’ve been away for a couple of days I’ve received an email expressing concern over the comments in my recent blog post about Liberal Democrat candidate Lorna Spenceley.  Lorna herself has also submitted a lengthy comment – which I have published.  And local newspaper editor John Elworthy has been somewhat scathing on his ‘Twitter’ feed.

I rather think that the unhappiness expressed and the issue concerned open up some interesting avenues of discussion regarding the nature of free speech and censorship.  So I’m going to write a blog post about it.

But before I do, I need to deal with what was said.  I should point out that if I thought I was in the right, I’d defend my position to my death bed.  Nobody has asked me to say anything or pressured me to make any changes to my blog.  But I respect the opinion of the people who have stated they are unhappy with my moderation of this blog in that instance and because I respect them I’ve had a long think about it.  I’ve come to the conclusion that I am in the wrong.

I personally really hate it when somebody says they are “sorry” for something and then goes on to state a load of provisos which make the apology valueless.  I’m torn between something I’d like to blog about because I think its worth discussing – and not wanting to look like I’m wriggling out of my responsibility to apologise for my moderation error.  So before I start please accept the following statement in order for me to be utterly clear:- 

I am utterly opposed to bad manners in political life.  The comments others wrote on my blog concerning the Lib Dem candidate were inaccurate, childish, rude and a bit mean.  I took a decision to chastise the commentor rather than to censor the comment.  In hindsight that was a poor judgement and I did not take a strong enough position.  I have now removed the comments accordingly and have decided to revise my censorship rules for this site.

Now I’d like to deal with the issue at hand.  For those who missed it, what actually happened was that I wrote a blog post about the new Lib Dem candidate which was, I believe, professional and reasonable within the bounds of an election campaign.  Some people commented in the same way, but three commentors made personal remarks which had nothing to do with the politics and were personal attacks about the candidate.  (I wont repeat the comments as that would compound the issue.  Suffice to say that were mean, inaccurate and added nothing to the debate.)

You should remember that people often post using pseudonyms and fake names – this is normal in all web discourse, particularly blogs.  There is no way to know if the people who made those comments are Conservatives, political opponents hoping to damage the blog, folk with an agenda – or just internet trolls looking to say something controversial.

At the time I was surprised at the comments and didn’t like them.  I decided to write a rebuke rather than censor the comment.  The reason I did this was that, in general, I am opposed to censorship and in favour of free speech.  If you immediately stifle free speech because somebody says something you don’t like – that is a dangerous road to follow.  My rules have always been that I try and avoid censoring people unless; (a) they swear or use foul language, (b) they say something actionable about someone or (c) they ’spam’ on the blog or (d) they say something disrespectful or ‘over the top’. 

Now some might say that the remarks that were made failed on my rule (d).  Perhaps I spend too much time reading other political blogs – but those remarks (while objectionable) were extremely tame compared to the sort of comments you can always read on leading political blogs like Guido Fawkes’ site or indeed LabourList.  At the time I considered that and felt that while the comments had no value and weren’t at all pleasant – they weren’t delivered with enough strength or  ’savagery’ and therefore fell into the realm of ‘distasteful but not quite enough to be censored’, which is why I wrote a comment against them instead.  Also, a blog comments section is supposed to be more like a group conversation than a magazine article – but new media is still new and as such the rules are still being formulated.

I should add that I’ve published many comments on this blog by opposition commentors which fell into similar realms.  Some of the accusations made by political opponents versus Fenland District Councillors (particularly Alan Melton recently) haven’t been entirely pleasant and could have given offense and caused upset.  I think my moderation has been mostly consistent.  I let them say most of what they wanted to say, even though it was not politically helpful to me or my party, could have been abused and may have hurt people’s feelings.  Why?  In the name of free speech – and because I believe its better to challenge people openly and win the argument than silence them and let them fester and skulk in the shadows.

So why have I changed my mind?

Because what I think is missing these days in society is politeness.  If people want to be mindless bigots, racist, ageist, sexist or any other ‘ist’ then, in a free society, they have every right to do so as long as they are not harming anyone by it.  It is distasteful to you or I, dear reader, but we don’t have the right to dictate what other people should think and believe.  These negative things would be far less damaging and vastly less inflammatory if people were just polite to one another.  Then the sour ideas would stay inside (where they belong, if they are going to exist at all) and, I think, civility would eventually lead to true community.

So, in regards to the comments about Lorna.  They were rude remarks and spiteful remarks.  I didn’t want anything to do with them then, but by failing to actually censor them I may have given the impression that I didn’t recognise their nastiness.  In view of this I will be changing my censorship procedure in future.  I will not allow any personal comments at all about anybody.  If in doubt my response will be to err on the side of caution rather than give the benefit of the doubt – because I value politeness and free speech equally and think, reasonably, they can co-exist.

In the spirit of this maybe we can ask leading labour whip’s not to say things like: “Tories are scum-sucking pigs” on their twitter feeds?  Maybe we can ask leading political activists not to accuse law-abiding people of criminal activity?  Maybe we could all stop saying that: “all politicians are corrupt” just because some of them have acted inappropriately.  Maybe newspaper column writers will think twice before saying people remind them of “Billy Bunter” <ahem>.  Because, while I fully accept I was in error in my judgement on how to moderate those comments we must remember these were other people’s comments.  Whereas those examples I have given were not.

UPDATE (7th March 2010):-
John Elworthy’s new ‘tweet’ reads as follows:-

STEVE TIERNEY TONIGHT ON HIS BLOG: Interesting stuff from Cllr Tierney, interrupting a weekend away to blog on Free Speech And Censorship. He says he’s concluded he was wrong.  Having just re-read I’m tempted to think that’s enough, but Steve won’t apologise and walk away – he now wants a full scale debate about it.  However my editorial will say,as moderator Steve should not have allowed gratuitous and venomous comments in the first place.

A pretty unfair caricature of what I’ve said and done, I think.  But there you go.  I don’t know why I would expect anything different.  Apparently there’s a witch in the village and a dunking is called for.  Real witches, I’m reliably told, float.  I’ll probably sink.  After nearly a year-and-a-half of writing and moderating this blog, it’ll be interesting to see if anybody supports me on my record and character or if they just grab a torch and a wooden stake and join the hunt.  Ah well.  What will be will be, as they say.

Back Soon…

Back Soon…

I’m off to the Conservative Councillor’s Conference in London today and will not return until Sunday. Consequently, I probably wont get any chance to blog for a couple of days. 

Before I go could I remind any local Conservatives reading that there is a QUIZ NIGHT on Saturday 13th March at the Alexandra Road Conservative Club in Wisbech.  Tickets, £10.00, include an “All You Can Eat” Sausage Supper.  Event starts promptly at 8PM.  To book a ticket please phone or text me on 07831 616127, or email me on me@stevetierney.org

See you soon!

Web Slinger For Hire

Web Slinger For Hire

There’s bad news from the world of superhero comics, I’m afraid.  Since I have no other burning post to write tonight I feel the need to relate it to you, dear reader.

The classic Marvel Comics web-slinger, Spider Man, is apparently in for a hard time of it following this week’s issue of his title comic “Amazing Spider Man”. 

You see, Marvel (unlike certain governments I could mention) aren’t in denial about the state of their economy.  They decided their storyline will be topical and poignant and as of the mid-week issue Spidey’s newspaper editor boss, J. Jonah Jameson, will fire his alter ego – Peter Parker.  Like millions of other Westerners, he’ll become the victim of a recession.

According to various sources, Spider Man will then have to consider, like so many other Americans (and British) how he is going to make ends meet without a regular income.  Never mind repairs to his costume after battles with Electro, or Sandman or Venom.  Never mind paying for the refills of his web fluid.  Or additional spider-shaped GPS location trackers to handily tag his foes with so he can find them later (it’s funny none of them ever notice the spider-shaped bug stuck to their back.)  Now, Peter Parker is going to have to work out how to pay his gas bill.  Or his rent. 

“Peter Parker’s been through some rough times lately, with all of his deadliest foes returning, and he couldn’t lose his job at a worse time,” said Steve Wacker, a senior editor at Marvel comics. “He’s going to struggle with unemployment and trying to save the city while he can barely afford to keep a roof over his head.”

While we can applaud Marvel for the modern storytelling – I do wonder if they remember what the term “escapism” actually means?  If I was going to buy a Spider Man Comic, which of course I am far too adult to ever do <ahem>, I think I’d rather not get drawn into all the same things that were making real life miserable all around me. 

Of course, we can’t blame Spider Man for his lack of employment.  He’s just a fictional character and, as such, is at the malicious whim of his writers and editors. 

Some people might suggest that, in a similar way, we are all at the malicious whim of Gordon Brown and his dreadful government.   While supporters of the Prime Minister would probably argue that we can’t blame Gordon Brown for the problems we are facing in the United Kingdom.  After all its not like he was chancellor and then prime minister or anything like that. 

Please remember though, that Spider Man has no need to puff and strut and boast about imaginary achievements.  In his spectacular four-colour setting Spidey really has saved the world.  Plenty of times.

Spider Man Image is Copyright Marvel Comics.

Better Late Than Never (Updated)

Better Late Than Never

So the Lib Dems have finally chosen their candidate for NE Cambs.  Mrs. Lorna Spenceley is now the PPC who plans to take on Steve Barclay for the Conservatives, Robin Lee Talbot for UKIP and thingumy-whatsit* from the Labour Party for Malcolm Moss’ seat.

I don’t know what made the Lib Dems wait until the eleventh hour to choose somebody.  I had imagined that maybe they had some special ace up their sleeves, some trump card, some spectacular candidate who would zoom in to much media fanfare, catching the spotlight with the panache and gloss of a movie star, or stimulating the mind with the gravity and presence of an intellectual giant.  Or both.

Anyhow.  Lorna Spenceley seems very nice.

Her background includes four (unsuccessful) attempts to become the MP for Harlow.  A brief leadership of the council back in Harlow – although by all accounts she’s not particular popular there right now.  Well, not with what the Wisbech Standard calls her ‘political enemies’ anyhow. 

In an interview with the local press she said: “She now hopes to campaign for a “free and fair” society and wants to “look after our environment for the next generation”.  Heady stuff, huh?  Let’s not worry about the economy, though.  Apparently, that doesn’t rank highly enough to be included in these early press releases.  Let’s not get worked up about, you know, jobs and stuff.**
 
Lorna said: “”I am looking forward to working with my local team across North East Cambridgeshire and am keen to meet as many people as possible during the campaign.”  Good for you, Lorna.  That’s precisely how you run a campaign.  Steve Barclay has been meeting people and involving himself in the local community too.  For about a year!  You’ve really got some catching up to do.
 
Anyway, Lorna Spenceley hopes that this attempt at becoming an MP will be “fifth time lucky.”  My advice, for what it’s worth?  It shouldn’t be about luck, Lorna.  But each to their own I guess.

Lorna Spenceley

*Sorry Peter. Couldn’t resist.
** I’m not picking on the Lib Dems, Chatty.  We are in an election campaign you know…

UPDATE 3/3/10:
It’s just been pointed out to me that this blog is factually incorrect.  Steve Barclay has, in fact, been out and about meeting people and getting to know the community for two and a half years.  Now that is serious campaign preparation!

David Cameron’s Speech

David Cameron’s Speech

This is what David Cameron had to say at the Conservative Spring Forum 2010.

Six Pledges

News just in from Conservative HQ of its forthcoming ”Six Pledges” should we win the next election.  Here they are:-

Now those are promises I can get behind and convey on the doorstep during the campaign! 

Act Now On Debt
This is, quite rightly, at the top.  It’s the Number One priority and I’m glad to see it given pole position.  Or should that be poll position, given the electoral test that’s coming for all parties?

Get Britain Working
Well, this chimes rather well with recent posts of mine.  Do you think David Cameron and his team are regular readers of this blog?  Of course, I’m joking.  But its nice to see the Big Boss and his team are on the same wavelength as me – on this at least.  Delivering a favourable tax environment for business and creating a huge number of new jobs is vital for a genuine recovery down the line.

Make Britain Family Friendly
A very traditional Conservative strength, this.  There do seem to be quite a few issues tucked under this header, but nothing I disagree with.  All good, solid, Tory ground.

Back The NHS
I’m not the sort of Conservative who thinks we should do away with the NHS.  But neither do I think “spend spend spend” is the solution and I believe it really is about time we had a proper debate about the growing problems our aging health service faces.  Nevertheless, this will hopefully do away with the spectre that Labour try to conjure of the Conservatives being against the NHS - which is patently not true of most of us.

Raise Standards In Schools
I’m really excited about our plans here.  In my opinion, Michael Gove’s planned schools reforms are the jewel in our policy crown.  Radical, powerful and dynamic, I believe they have the possibility to transform education in this country, vastly for the better and permanently.  But it is going to be a bitter fight versus the Powers That Be and the Vested Interests who will try every dirty trick and scaremongering tactic they can to frighten people about it. 

Change Politics
I’d have liked the “change politics” one to go a bit further in the Quango Cull – a third still leaves vastly too many unelected quangocrats in place.  I’m not sure about reducing the number of MPs, as I don’t see a lower level of representation being in the best interests of the electorate – but I suppose it will appeal to the anti-politics mood of the moment.  Sadly.

Go on Prime Minister – call a general election this weekend!

Call it for March.  Or April. 

You think you’re in with a chance?  So roll the dice, big ‘feller.  And we’ll see what’s what.

Fenland Gets Some Bling!

Fenland Gets Some Bling!

I’ve just read the Cambs Times coverage of the new Fenland District Council spending plans.  Having spoken to Alan Melton today, who was clearly very excited about his forthcoming announcements, I was expecting something dramatic.  I wasn’t let down.

I suppose, before I make comment, I should drop in a proviso.  I’m in the “radical cuts” school of thinking in regards to the country as a whole.  Not because I like cutting things, or enjoy reducing spending, but because (if you’ll excuse the colloquialism) we’re skint!  As such, in most debates of late I’ve been looking to shave expense from the public sector and deliver (where possible) lower taxes to the public.

So, if all these spending plans were based on borrowing (as they are when our national government makes such announcements) I would have to look at them askance.  No matter how positive and motivational ideas may be – if you can’t afford them you can’t afford them!

Fenland District Council is in a fortunate position, though.  Thanks to what is, by all accounts, an exceptionally good deal made on the sale of council houses – there is some money available.  This is, frankly, quite rare right now in councils across the country.  It is thanks to some wise decisions and good business done that we have something of an opportunity.

A very cautious leader might have kept that extra money squirrelled away for a rainy day.  After all, we all know that rainy days are coming – the economic situation is rather likely to continue to worsen (whatever is currently being spun by the government.)  But there are two schools of thought in this.  The first says that government settlements to councils are going to be very grim for several years and that we should be storing up reserves to cover this eventuality. 

But you might also take the view that Sterling is almost certainly going to continue to plummet as our debt levels terrify the global markets.  You might also surmise that all this borrowing and money-printing quantitative easing is leading to inevitable and significant inflation.  With that in mind, any money stored up is going to devalue rapidly, while the things you want to spend it on are likely to become increasingly unaffordable.  If this view is right, the window to usefully spend excess reserves is now.

Where am I going with all this?  I guess I’m saying that FDC’s proposals to spend money right now on things Fenland desperately needs is probably the right one, given its unusual financial circumstances.  It’s certainly a strong and confident decision by the leadership and, I suspect, one which will be warmly welcomed by the public. 

Chatteris gets its new leisure center (and if it’s even HALF as awesome as the early descriptions it’ll be a significant boon for the people who live in the area.)  The new campus for the College of West Anglia is back on the cards with a vengeance, alongside business investment for Wisbech which (in my opinion) is desperately needed.   A host of other spending plans completed a pretty monumental shopping list which I doubt anybody expected. 

New leader Cllr. Alan Melton has delivered a grand and inspiration plan, here.  Of course, he now has to deliver it!  But if he does, he’ll have made a significant mark on the landscape of Fenland and will have effectively silenced his critics in a most decisive way.

From the Cambs Times:-
Overall the council – with a hefty cash bank from its sale of council houses – will commit £5,675,000 which he said “is a clear break from the past and signifies a complete re-evaluation of our policies. It is an exciting budget and exciting set of proposals.

Yes, I think I have to agree.  It is a clear break from the past and it is an exciting set of proposals.  It’s also a very, very ambitious set of proposals.  Nothing wrong with that, of course.  But more critical eyes than mine will be watching it progress with interest and looking to pick holes.  For myself, I like radical thinking and radical thinkers.  So I’ll be cheering from the sidelines and hoping the entire plan is delivered with resounding success.

We really do need to remember that there is no such thing as ‘council money’.  This is all taxpayer’s money, and the money at FDC is Fenland Taxpayer’s money.  Everybody deserves, every once in a while, to go out and buy themselves something nice.  That’s what FDC is doing for Fenland – just on a larger scale.  We haven’t really done very much of it lately, but we’ve been working hard, we have some spare funds - and surely we deserve a little pampering?  It would be a hard, hard man who would deny the people of the area the right to a little Bling.