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HOLDING ONE'S NOSE IN WISBECH

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POLITICS IN WISBECH is seldom less than surreal. Unkind people may even use words like dystopian, malicious and vindictive. We moved here in the early 1990s, and some people say that things were different then. They may be right, but at the time, I took no interest in such things. I had a demanding job, a large family to support and provide for, and there were only so many hours in the day. It wasn't until I retired that I had the time or the inclination to look at what was going on. By then - 2012- the situation that exists today was already well set. The Town Council was basically controlled by two people. Most of the Town Councillors were fellow Conservatives, but they seemed happy for the two main players to make all the decisions and direct them how to vote in the council chamber. The modus operandi of these two people was very simple, and very effective. They would cultivate people who they thought were malleable and open to flattery, persuade them to stand for council, mak...
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LOCAL ELECTIONS 2023

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    AS LIEUTENANT COLONEL BILL KILGORE almost said in Apocalypse Now, "I love the smell of Wisbech elections in the morning" There is certainly a distinctive whiff in the air during the weeks leading up to local council elections. How best to describe the smell? Try this: "Top notes of armpits moistened by hours of competitive litter picking mingle with the heart notes of hypocrisy, on a redolent base of deflection, half truths - and complete bullshit." EVERY FOUR YEARS OR SO during which time many of our councillors were notable only for their invisibility, there is a great stirring. These people emerge from their caves, blinking in sunlight and scratching themselves awake. Their thought processes might be something like this: "Crikey, elections in May? Better do something, quick. Yes, that's it, we'll pick some litter, and post pictures of us doing it all over Facebook. It has always worked in the past. Policies? Ermm, not too sure about that, but w...
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INDEPENDENCE DAY!

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THE POLITICAL INTRIGUE inevitable christened ' Angelgate ' rumbles on. Now it seems that former Conservative stalwart and poster boy for  integration in Wisbech, Aigars Balsevics, is no longer a member of the party. No, not the party that never happened (and even if it did, Steve Tierney wasn't there) but the party with a capital 'P'. With neither fanfare, leaving presentation nor emotional farewell speech from fellow Councillor and Conservative Party 'grand fromage' Samantha Hoy, Councillor Balsevics now appears to be an Independent. Does this mean that he will now be subject to the endless scorn and derision from certain quarters that was once directed at former Councillors Virginia and Michael Bucknor, and is still heaped on Councillor David Patrick? Perhaps Councillor Balsevics has crossed the floor in protest at the shenanigans  revealed to have been going on in the gardens of No.10 Downing Street? Surely not, since lockdown-flouting gatherings seem to ...
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MAYBE WE SHOULD COUNT OUR BLESSINGS...?

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    There's no question that many parts of Wisbech have been disfigured by the results of unchecked immigration. The decent shops, the family businesses, the places our parents and grandparents knew are largely gone. But, sadly, this isn't unique to Wisbech, and it's not entirely due to immigration. The same threadbare town centre catering only to gambling addicts, drunks, mobile-phone obsessives and lovers of pound shops can be seen the length and breath of the country. At least, what we don't have is an infestation that is, in my view, far, far worse. To experience that, take a trip to Peterborough or, further afield, Leicester, Bradford, Leeds, Telford, Rotherham, Rochdale. In the words of a certain disgraced entertainer, "Can you see what it is yet?"     The rape of England? A strong word, but one that works in two ways here, because the key con c ept in both cases — in literal and metaphorical senses — is consent. Staying with the metaphorical use of ...
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AND THAT WILL BE ENGLAND GONE

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  The poet Philip Larkin wrote a poem called ‘Going, going’ in which he lamented the disappearance of an England he knew and loved. He saw the threat as a growing urbanisation, and commercial greed that would, to use a modern phrase, ‘tarmac over the countryside.’ His vision was of an England where beautiful country lanes, quiet churches and our most revered monuments would only be visible as pictures in books. I have stolen a line from his poem, but have a different view of who the enemy is, and I will try to explain my fears — and anger in future posts. Picture a street in a market town , somewhere in the east of England. The houses were built in Victorian times. They are small and probably rather unlovely, but over the decades were home to working families, English people who worked hard, tried to keep themselves healthy and nourished. The adults probably worked in local factories or in the richly fertile fields around the town. It would be backbreaking work and not well paid....
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A TOUCH OF CLASS . . . OR PERHAPS NOT

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The social media presence of some of the political "elite"in Wisbech is, shall we say, attention-grabbing, if not always in the right way. Here was the response of one of the faithful to a newspaper report about the antics in The Angel. And another unusual response from a senior Wisbech Conservative, this time on the question of vaccines against the Corona virus. Unsurprisingly, MP Steven Barclay, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office didn't respond, at least publicly.  
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THE ROTTEN BOROUGH IN 2021

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  This is something of an orphan blog , rejected by its parents and left out in the cold since 2019. No matter - given a blanket and a hot meal, its cheeks are soon restored to their rosy glow. The ever reliable Facebook "you have memories" algorithm reminded me of a cartoon I drew back in the cosy days before Covid gave us other things to worry about. Something is rotten in the pantry , by the look of it. I can't even remember what particular piece of unpleasantness made me draw it, but I suspect it involved the same people. Sadly the cake has become even more unpalatable and infested with rot throughout 2021, to the extent that it has probably crawled off the shelf propelled by the multitude of little scaly legged creatures that feast off it. What are the abiding glories of Wisbech's 2021? Where to start! The long running political scandal has been what was inevitably christened 'Angelgate'. It all started when police and Fenland Council officials raided Th...
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