What do the less diligent councillors do?
Saved on
05/07/2008
Yesterday, the Adver reported on a week in the life of three councillors: Messrs Tomlinson, Pajak and Montaut. All three seem keen to stress how much more there is to their public service than attending council meetings. I wouldn’t deny that. But all three of these councillors have had quite good...
What do the less diligent councillors do?
On the wrong track
Saved on
02/07/2008
One of the common features of pressure groups and campaigns is their one-tracked pursuit of their goals, impervious to whether the approach they are taking is so inappropriate as to actually prevent them being taken seriously, ultimately reducing the likelihood of them achieving their goals. So it is...
On the wrong track
A big cleaning bill
Saved on
29/06/2008
I find Swindon Borough Council’s approach to fly-posting both half-hearted and inefficient.The cost of removing a poster zip-tied to a tree or lamp-post is about £20 while a poster fixed to another surface could cost up to £200…. Mr Palacio said: “We are keen to stress...
A big cleaning bill
Planning non-access
Saved on
29/06/2008
Having lost their website...
Planning non-access
Lies, damned lies and crime statistics
Saved on
24/06/2008
If you’re reporting a story that does little more than regurgitate some press releases, you’d at least try not to make any errors in what you copied, no? Step forward the Adver which, in publishing a story based on a press release from Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board, has managed to misquote...
Lies, damned lies and crime statistics
Swindon LINk
Saved on
22/06/2008
Yesterday I attended the inaugural meeting of the Swindon Local Involvement Network (LINk), which has been created to monitor and comment on public-funded health and adult social care in Swindon. It has limited powers: just the right to ask questions of NHS services and the council’s scrutiny committee...
Swindon LINk
Packing ’em in at Coate
Saved on
20/06/2008
Packing houses in, that is. With even the ever-optimistic Mr Bluh admitting that residential development around Swindon is slowing, you might think that the pressure to concrete over the area around Coate Water might have eased. Not so. The Swindon Gateway Partnership (Persimmon and Redrow) is back with...
Packing ’em in at Coate
Swimming against the tide
Saved on
19/06/2008
The Adver seems to be trying to out-do Mr Bluh’s extreme optimism. In his words,It would be very easy to sit here and be full of doom and gloom about the year to come. But I think we have got grounds to be optimistic. We are on a long journey and it doesn’t matter how much flood water there...
Swimming against the tide