It's them who've changed ... not us!

We were amused but not surprised to learn of the rapid disappearance of the enthusiastic welcome given to Boston Eye after the Boston Bypass Independents snatched Boston from democracy in the local government elections in May 2007.
We seem to recall running what we considered a particularly amusing headline at the time on the lines of "a kick up the bypass" for the previous council.
There was no question that the former administration demonstrated many traits as bad then as those shown by their successors now.
And despite what the BBI claimed at the time, their success owed as much to disillusion with the previous council as it did to the promise of a bypass, which most of us knew would never come to fruition.
Voters were looking for a change from a council that ignored the opinions of the electorate, frittered money away on wasteful projects that were never going to succeed and ran the borough as though it was their personal fiefdom.
Therefore it came as a considerable disappointment to find that we had elected a council that ignored the opinions of the electorate, frittered money away on wasteful projects that were never going to succeed and ran the borough as though it was their personal fiefdom.
In the beginning, it was possible to enthuse about the BBI because it was untried and untested, and started out with a blank sheet, which gave it the chance to be imaginative and creative.
However, instead of thinking about the needs of Boston and its residents, the party decided that it was elected to rule, and rule it would - without regard to the wishes of others.
Gradually, as details of the BBI's so-called style emerged, we saw that it showed total disregard for the voice of a growing opposition.
We saw childish behaviour from people old enough to know better.
We saw people who, outside the council chamber, would never let anyone to tell them what to do, bending the knee in submission and allowing themselves to be bullied by a tiny "elite" that ruled the roost.
And we've seen from e-mails that have passed across our computer screen how the leadership indulged in cheap and snide responses to reasonable questions from members of the opposition parties on the council.
What's perhaps most disappointing is that the leadership is not sufficiently adult to realise that it has to conform to certain standards if it is to receive the respect is thinks it deserves.
What's most ironic about the changed attitude of the BBI from the day they were elected and welcomed us welcoming them, is that Boston Eye is still on the side of democracy and honesty in local government - but the BBI now despise us because they have failed to recognise that they have changed beyond all recognition from the party that promised such much hope when elected to power.
Those who now slag us off haven't noticed that we are still the same people who welcomed them and their hopes and ideals to Boston two years and nine months ago. We are not different ... they are.
And if those people sit and think about it for a minute or two it won't take an effort of genius to see how far the party is now out of tune with the people who elected it, for whom we are proud act as a voice.
But there is still time to make amends.
Carlyle told us: "Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none."
And whilst we are quoting, wasn't it Thomas Jefferson who said: "An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."

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