Week ending

Once again, we end the week with some smaller – but no less important events.

█ More than once, we have raised the issue of officers at Boston Borough Council being paid through private service companies – which allows tax and other advantages ... and meets with increasing disapproval. Recently, a freedom of information request disclosed that three current members of the Worst Street team were employed under these arrangements – charging up to £400 a day for their services. At last, this is coming to an end.  Two of the trio have joined the staff and talks about the third are continuing in the hope of sorting it out before the end of the financial year.

█ Another FoI request has produced reams of paperwork about the £1 million pound loan taken out by Boston Borough Council over sixty years at a total cost of £6,675.000 of taxpayers’ cash for interest alone. What is surprising is that it has repeatedly been claimed that hardly any paperwork existed. We’ve spent hours going through it – and will tell you some interesting things next week.

█ A list has emerged of new companies created last year in Lincolnshire. There were 883 in North Kesteven, 867 in South Kesteven, 686 in South Holland, 531 in Lincoln, 502 in West Lindsey, 485 in East Lindsey and 357 in Boston.

Boston purportedly has an economic development team – so may we ask what they are doing?

█ Whatever next? First, Grub Street conspires to smear Boston over our crime figures. Now it seems that one of the country’s leading think tanks is doing the same. Policy Exchange places Boston at the bottom of the league for integration. The charge was immediately dismissed by our parliamentary wise monkey Matt Warman, who told the Independent newspaper “… this report is based on 2011 data, so it doesn’t reflect the world of 2016.”

█ To enter that world, Mr Warman has risen to a challenge from a Boston Sub-Standard reader to “spend 24 hours with a few of the local families in the most [crime] affected areas.”  Without prejudging the outcome, why do we think that Mr Warman will have a jolly nice stay during which he felt unthreatened and entirely at ease.

█ Finally, we liked this – from the West End Cinema website.

La Triviata … it could only happen in Boston!

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