Week ending 13th November

Our Friday miscellany of the week's news and events
It's Friday the 13th so take it easy out there ....
Back from our break, we received an e-mail from Boston Borough Councillor Richard Leggott, who, back from holiday himself, referred to our comments on what constitutes a truly independent representative. He says: "I would like to make it absolutely clear that my withdrawal as a candidate (from the Boston North West County Council by-election) should not in any way be interpreted by either the BNP or Conservative candidates as wishing to affect their electoral chances in this recent local election. I was to be well distanced geographically from Boston for Election day - being in Esperance WA . My political position is equally distant from all our local political parties. I am a true local Independent and intend to remain so."
Talking of Boston North West, this morning we visited the innappropriately named blog "Vote Mike Sheridan Shinn," where the former Liberal democrat candidate does not appear to hold to the old adage that a week is a long time in politics." More than a month since the election was won by Conservative Andrea Jenkyns, he tells us .... "now that phase one of the campaign is complete. Its now time to launch phase two which is very exciting and I know my supporters will like it ..." Not a lot, apparently.
One of Boston's few famous old girls - newspaper columnist Mary Riddell - tells readers in the Daily Telegraph:- "Gordon Brown should say the unsayable: immigration has been a boon. Who else will staff hospitals and care homes, pick potatoes and sweep streets? We thought that perhaps Mary ought to pay a return visit to her former home, where she would see that migrants don't always spend their time caring for our sick or doing the dirty menial tasks that the locals have now turned their backs on. The recent "swoops" on illegal encampments tell a somewhat different story. But then apparently, so does Mary. A couple of years ago, she wrote of a visit to Boston in the Observer: "Walk out of the station forecourt and there is a newish cinema. The rancid bar where I ordered my first vodka and lime has been converted into a pleasant riverside hotel and the clothes stores no longer sell fashions seemingly inspired by a Crimean catwalk. In a shopping mall, boulevardiers drink espresso at pavement tables. The place is richer and more cosmopolitan than it has been for decades., if not centuries. Boston was chosen by the Pilgrim Fathers for their first, doomed attempt to reach America. Long after their betrayal by the ship's captain, who handed them over to the authorities, the town became a decaying seaport which owes its revival to immigrants' toil. Without incomers from Portugal and the EU accession states, the economy of this town, and of all Lincolnshire, would collapse. But Boston, once again, is showing a facility for crushing pilgrims' dreams." Absence makes the heart grow fonder ... but it also seems to play strange tricks on memory and geography!
We were pleased that the Boston Standard picked up our clue concerning the story about Fogarty's that they missed first time round even though it was in their own paper. Even so, they still failed to ask a couple of fairly obvious questions .... but then that's what local papers do these days. However, we did like the addition of a new playmate for Boskat who appeared on their website (see below.) At least, we assume that Fograty is a furry creature of the riverbank, and not a major local employer!
Talking of the Standard ... Like many readers, we welcomed the return of the court news, but not the attempts to "sex up" the stories, mundane as they may be. For instance, we hadn't until now heard of the crime of "scarpering without paying" for petrol. And we felt the line "He stood in silence as the judge passed sentence, the smirk wiped off his face" reeked of comment, which is always dangerous in court reporting. We recall a a celebrated case more than a century ago where the newspaper of the day reported ..."the accused man entered the dock. He is short, squat in stature, extremely ugly and obviously guilty of the heinous crimes with which he is charged...." Perhaps the Standard yearns for those days to return. By the way ... what's happened to Morning Reports on the paper's website, and the hilarious evening videos, where journalists showed that their reading is as bad as their writing....
Witham Way County Park has been awarded nature reserve status. Doe that mean the campers can no longer dine out on braised squirrel and hedgehog baked in clay?
Finally, our ironic misspelling of the week again comes from the Standard, which quotes Councillor Anne Dorrian as saying: " I would not say it would pass and plain English competancy tests...." Yes, you're right, the correct spelling is competency.

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