Week ending 11th February

Our Friday miscellany

of the week's

news and events

Politically incorrect … As everyone knows, BBI Councillor Ramonde Newell never makes a mistake. So it was eerie to find a flaw in his argument in a letter to one of our local “newspapers” headed “We need to invest in our young people.” In it, he launched one of his tireless tirades against the coalition government and the Conservatives in particular for “attacking our young people.” Part of the letter cited the £79 million plan for a new Boston College (pictured right)
-  the one that looked as if it was designed by someone after a night out on the town. The scheme was shelved after the government-funded Learning and Skills Council ran out of money – affecting scores of colleges. The announcement came in March last year - almost two months before the general election. By our reckoning, that makes Labour the guilty party, and not the Conservatives. The first part of Councillor Newell’s letter also mystified us. “Boston’s education tragedy – Sam Newson must be turning in his grave,” it read. Harsh words indeed.

County haul - 1 … Boston gets a couple of honourable mentions in reports at today’s full meeting of Lincolnshire County Council. The first is from Councillor William Webb, the Highways and Transport supreme, who tells us that work on the A16 and A52 roadworks is progressing well, and on target for completion in April. He adds: “We are currently exploring options for improvements to the bus station. These improvements will be targeted towards ensuring the facilities comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, improving efficiency and enhancing the passenger experience. This is, however, dependent on the funding being in place from all partners, including Boston Borough Council.” Does this mean that Boston is being a little reticent in paying its share of the booty? We do hope not.

County haul – 2 … Boston’s second mention is from Councillor Lewis Strange, Executive Councillor for the far less glamorous area of Waste Services and Green Issues. He quotes figures recently released from the Environment Agency which show that recycling countywide averaged 51.4% for 2009-2010 , with Boston lagging far behind on 31.5% and North Kesteven goody two-shoes with 56.3%. Councillor Strange says: “Working within the joint recycling group next year, we hope to promote green waste collection in Boston, should Boston wish to follow that route.” Again, there’s that hint of doubt which suggests that Boston is not quite as onside as it ought to be.
This is Boston – and you’re welcome to it … A reader tells us of an unedifying sight that he witnessed on Wednesday on The Green in Boston. A perfectly harmless looking young man was rummaging through a box of items up for auction when he was approached by another man apparently connected with the auctioneers, who demanded to search him. It was no half-hearted affair, either – the young man was ordered to stand with his arms out and legs apart and submit to an excessively-vigorous patting down. He had been pointed out by a third party, who was heard to say that he was sure something had been taken. The victim was of foreign extraction, and perhaps came from a country where such deplorable behaviour is accepted as normal. The fact that anyone should be ordered to submit to such a search other than by the police is disgraceful. The fact that the search was carried out by someone who felt that he had the right to do it – when he almost certainly did not - is even worse.
It’s the way I tell ‘em … Just recently, Boston Borough Council was trumpeting that the borough had maintained its claim to have the county’s biggest percentage decrease in crime, up to and including December 2010. That may well be the case but the Police.UK website tells another story. Its newly available crime maps show that in December Boston fell victim to more crime than any other town in the county. We’re sure that someone in Worst Street will turn this misfortune into a yet another case for keeping the CCTV cameras – and perhaps even increasing them.
What a load of hyperbolics … We were blogging from afar last week, which meant that we were denied the dubious pleasures of our local “newspapers” until the weekend. But we couldn’t let the daft comments by two Boston Bypass Independent councillors go unremarked. In a story about planned road improvements to the A16 at the Spilsby Road/Freiston Road/Willoughby road junction, Councillor Gerry Clare denounced the junction as a “death trap.” Hmmm. Isn’t that a place where people die? And has that ever happened? We believe not. In his own way, Councillor Graham Dovey was even more hyperbolic - using the phrase “the road rage capital of Europe” to illustrate his point. Both men are regular users of this stretch of road, so they really should know better than to talk in such flamboyant terms. However, it’s good to see that something at last can stir these two BBI members to make an utterance – even if it’s just because it’s in their own backyard.
Not waving - but drowning … It must have been with a sense of great relief that Lorna Beachaump and her friend Louise Tree noted an alteration to Boston Borough Council’s website. For the first half of the week their plan to raise money for cancer research by swimming the cross channel distance in the relative safety of the Geoff Moulder pool appeared thus … (click on photos to enlarge them)

Then someone realised that it would be a swim too far – even for the most dedicated aquanaut – and was corrected to something far more manageable.

We think that the council should make a donation to make up for scaring the good ladies silly!
And finally … the Boston Target wins this week’s Mangledanguage Award for these two items. Whilst the headline on the first – about potholes - headed “Drivers warned to be on guard or face a hole lot of grief” was clearly a pun .. although not a very clever one … the mistake in the text was clearly unintentional.

Having said that, drivers may well, of course, break if a hole is deep enough.
Meanwhile, on the Announcements pages, we found this request, which might have confounded some of Boston’s less sartorially-aware.

Does that mean the grey topper and tails will be ok, then?


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