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Couldn't agree more tomtom and I am not electioneering! Looks to me like our 'local' council prefers to invest in its own bureaucracy rather than the image and wellbeing of the town. With more than half their income going on things like office and admin costs they are now taking on an extra clerk so that's going to push that percentage up even higher! So invest in unproductive staff would seem the order of the day. If we really have to have these little councils then someone needs to get a hold of ours and give it a dammed good shake!

That's one hell of a leap of faith Cyril………..accountable. All politicians say they are accountable at the ballot box which if everyone actually voted might have a grain of truth. It's almost exactly the same as running a business except, and there's the cruncher you will enjoy, if they want more money to spend they just vote through a tax rise! I have been to my council's meetings where the next year's rates charges were discussed and set and I have to say I found the process unbelievable. One year's increase was put through because the majority felt they should! It wasn't even aligned to costs! The public are not allowed to speak at these events but I do think we should be handing out rotten fruit to be used as we see fit! I ran my own business Cyril and I once had an argument with a councillor at a public meeting who wanted to double the rates so they could spend the money on 'feel good' projects. I asked him what did he think would happen if I decided I wanted to double my pay so I went in the next day and doubled the cost of everything I was selling. I am not even sure he understood the analogy but a lot of his compadres did and told him to shut up! This is the problem, spending other people's money is the easy bit and most councillors have never had to actually go out and make money for themselves, if they did they might value the stuff and where it comes from a bit more! I am not saying every councillor has to have been self-employed to be competent only that the vast majority seem to me to display a disconnect between the real world and how they manage the public purse. The perfect example is Westminster where our great and good leaders have never had anything approaching what most people would call a real job, how the hell can they make decisions which affect the vast majority of people in the country: there is absolutely no empathy or understanding we might as well have Martians ruling us!

My turn to rant again about the state of our town and the general degeneration of the market square and the 'flea pit' stalls that abound whereas we should be expecting something more akin to a market town. Traders are being put off by the second hand goods stalls and the greasy spoon caravan - why can't we have something more akin to the needs of the people. I had friends visiting from out of the area a couple of weeks ago and what an ear bashing I got for sitting back and letting the area go to seed. If our councillors can't be bothered to get the place smartened up then let's kick them out and put people in who will do something about it - the whole situation really makes my blood boil and I know that I am not alone.