What, you want some coverage of the local elections? At this late stage? Well the re-shuffle did nothing to change the results.
I make no apologies, apart from this one, for that which is about to follow, but these folks change your day-to-day existence, so endure it, and make sure they do it right.
Exeter City Council (which is really a district council – it shares responsibility with the county council, whereas unitary authorities have all the power) remains with No Overall Control. The Lib Dems lost one seat (Pennsylvania), Labour lost two (Cowick and Pinhoe) and the Conservatives gained three (Cowick, Pennsylvania and Pinhoe, of course), lifting their number to eight compared to the 16 Labour councillors, 12 Lib Dems and four Liberals. Alphington remains empty. 36.8 per cent of the good burghers turned out to vote.
Plymouth City Council (that’s Unitary Authority, to you) on the other hand was incredibly exciting, yawn. Labour lost control and there is now No Overall Control. Again the Conservatives picked up seats where the other parties dropped theirs – Labour four, Lib Dems one, and Independents one (that makes six to the Tories – Budshead, Drake, Eggbuckland (apparently it does exist), Southway, Stoke, Moor View – don’t know your ward, shame on you!). And the new council consists of 28 Labour acolytes, 25 Conservative, three Liberal Democrats with one seat vacant.
The (egg) buck (land) stops there. If you don’t like what’s going on, get in touch with your councillor and complain. And if you want to complain but in a non-specific way try these nifty ideas: not enough Bobbies on the beat; too many hooligan yoofs drinking alco-pops (so pasee); and my salty water makes me feel thirsty…
Posted by Cptn
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May 8th, 2006
Isn’t the new look Express & Echo fantastic? Yes, it is.
At least, that’s what the effusive feature on thisisexeter.co.uk says.
“Ask Echo readers why they buy the paper,” it splutters, “and their answers will be different - for local news, jobs, property, to see who has died or been born, or to find the best karaoke on a Saturday night”.
Unfortunately, this breathless (and very lengthy) hagiography is rather undermined by the comments posted below the story.
TG from Exeter says: “The Echo was a good(ish) paper, but nowadays we have to constantly read self-congratulatory articles such as this. Tedious to say the least.”
Phil, from Exeter agrees: “New look? Perhaps. But out of date news stories, ranting letters from the same-old, same-old, sensational headlines that ignore the reality - what an excellent local paper!”
Sensational headlines, Phil? From the rag that ran with ‘Christian B&B Perv Molested Underage Girl’? Surely not.
Anyhoo, a paper that doesn’t screen the comments appearing on its own website… er, we mean a paper that’s so open to constructive criticism has to be applauded, doesn’t it? Anyone?
Posted by Thin White Duke
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May 8th, 2006
Citizens of the People’s Republic might have seen the story in the Evening Herald over the weekend about the Plymouth residents who were told not to drink their tap water after supplies were contaminated with salt.
Four hundred homes in Cattedown had their pipes polluted with salt water - meaning families couldn’t drink the water or brush their teeth. No change there then.
However, there was an unexpected bonus in that residents could sprinkle the water over their fish and chips.
Unfortunately, not everybody in the region was as sympathetic as the Herald - like Colin for instance, who took the time to log on to thisisplymouth.co.uk to ask: ‘Who cares?!!’
Well, quite.
Posted by Thin White Duke
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May 8th, 2006
