Goalless draw in BBC debate tho' BBI is caught offside

The BBC came to town last week to debate the burning issues ahead of Thursday’s local elections.
Radio Lincolnshire’s breakfast show presenter Rod Whiting hosted a round table discussion at the town’s local studio – which has been so seldom used that we were unaware that one existed.
Mr Whiting irritatingly refers to himself as Rodders which sounds as if he clears blocked drains rather than hosts radio shows – and talks at a speed redolent of the auctioneer in the Leroy Van Dyke 1956 hit of the same name.
Around the table with him were representatives from all the parties competing for seats on Boston Borough Council.
Appropriately for a party which uses a broad yellow streak on its election literature, the ever shy and retiring BBI leader Richard Austin sent Councillor Ramonde “mouth of the Haven” Newell to do his talking for him – whilst all the other parties sent leaders or heavyweight spokesmen.
The rest of the line-up comprised Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire for the Tories, Councillor Richard Leggott on behalf of the Independents, Paul Kenny from Labour, Paul Appleby of the Lib Dems, Elliott Fountain for the English Democrats, and Chris Payne representing UKIP.
The debate covered three issues – roads, the Into Town bus service, and immigration.
On roads, the drift of the argument was that the traffic improvements now being so widely hailed were long overdue, and had in fact been delayed by the BBI – thus depriving Bostonians of the obvious benefits sooner rather than later.
It was also felt that the baton had been dropped as far as keeping up pressure on Whitehall was concerned, and that the improvements - whilst providing breathing space - would soon be lost as car ownership increased.
Strangely, of the three topics under debate, the Into Town bus service exercised the knights of the round table more strongly than any other issue.
Everyone agreed that it was an excellent service, but there was also widespread accord that its route should be changed to avoid driving through Strait Bargate – a route which more than one speaker claimed was decided upon by BBI Leader Richard Austin behind closed doors and without consultation. There was also strong criticism of the manners of the Brylaine bus drivers – both in the precinct and around the rest of the route.
On immigration, the consensus of a somewhat mired debate was that it was a national issue, beyond the control of the council, and that Boston was a victim of the fallout.
If the programme had been a game of football, we would say that it ended in a goalless draw.
There were one or two shots that bounced off the post, and the BBI’s substitute Captain, Ramonde Newell was caught offside more than once.
He was also guilty of over deploying the word actually - doubtless with the intention of persuading his audience that everything he said was true. This was unfortunate given the context of some of his offerings – particularly the one about buses driving through Strait Bargate.
“They talk about through the centre of town. They mean, actually, Strait Bargate. They don’t even know the places they’re talking about. Strait Bargate, when I was a young man, had double decker buses going both ways through that. Now we have this small, modern bus, which has bleepers on it, it’s got flashing lights, it goes at a walking pace, and this is the thing that they’re complaining about.”
It was left to Councillor Leggott to remind Councillor Newell that, actually, in the days when buses travelled through Strait Bargate it was because it was then the main A16 route through town.
We also remember it well. It was a dreadful blackspot which remained until the building of John Adams Way - at which point it became a pedestrianised area for exactly the same reasons that it should remain one today.
If one were to believe Councillor Newell, Boston was locked in some sort of political ice age until the advent of the BBI - hampered by the ineptitude of previous administrations in moving the town into what Churchill called the “broad, sunlit uplands.”
Overall, the debate was long on rhetoric and short on promises – but if you really want to listen to it, it’s available for the next two days by clicking here
One final thing – perhaps Councillor Newell could take on board that politeness is actually the watchword in debate these days. It is considered extraordinarily rude to address a colleague in debate by his surname only – actually.

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