Our Friday miscellany

of the week's

news and events

Our piece on last weekend’s Christmas Market may have damned with faint praise – but most people seemed to understand where we were coming from. Independent Boston Borough Councillor Carol Taylor wrote to say: “Thank you for your very positive article. Whilst I recognise your positivism, it is clear that there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm from retail outlets, and I think it is important that this area of what I perceive as general malaise must be addressed as soon as possible. I have requested a meeting with members of Boston Borough Council involved with the event in the hope that we can reflect on the weekend’s events. It is always advisable to have these meetings as soon as possible so that our discussions are based on the event still being fresh in our minds. Here's hoping!”

Meanwhile, another more cynical commentator picked us up on remarks about the sombre looking reindeer on Bargate Green. “Did you look directly opposite on the other side of the Green?” our correspondent asked. “If you did you would have seen the Fen Farm Venison stall selling venison burgers. I cannot blame them looking glum when bambi was being chargrilled a few feet away!”
Whilst it was a shame that Boston’s Market Place was in such a mess for this year’s Christmas Market, we wonder whether anyone is yet thinking ahead to next March-ish, when – if we’re lucky - the  renvoation works will be complete. As events can be held at any time of the year these days, why don’t we plan something really memorable to mark the end of the restoration, and the re-opening of our latest attraction?
It beggars belief that our local celebration of the UK's biggest women-only charity fundraising event -  in which almost 1,500 Boston women took part this year and raised £80,000 for charity - has been dumped because the charity concerned doesn’t think that it is cost effective. Cancer Research UK – which has organised Race for Life in the town since 2005 – says it has to raise as much money as possible in the most “cost-efficient” way possible, and the Boston event has been cancelled because of the costs of staging it. Outrageous! This was an excellent community event which brought people from all walks of life together in a good cause. Cancer Research will not disclose how much it cost, but if an event that raised so much money is not deemed cost effective, then something is badly wrong somewhere. Not only that, but the charity is now hoping that previous participants will trek to Lincoln to take part in next year’s event. Let us hope that somewhere in the borough there is someone who will organise an alternative event – perhaps not quite as lavish as the previous Race for Life  - but which can raise enough to shame the bureaucrats at Cancer Research. We wonder whether the decision is in any way connected with the decision by Tesco to end its support for the event, whilst instead deciding to be a headline sponsor of Pride London - Britain’s largest gay festival.
Boston’s position in the county was not looking good this week with the issue of figures showing business statistics for 2010 in Lincolnshire. The borough was bottom of the list of the number of "active" enterprises, with just 1,900 – well below our neighbours South Holland and East Lindsey on 2,865 and 4,805 respectively. Presumably, the fact that we have fewer such businesses is why we enjoy the lowest number of “deaths of enterprises” at 200. But again, we are bottom of the table of the number of new enterprises, at 160, compared with our nearest neighbours on 240 and 345, and again lowest on the list of two and three year survival rates for new businesses. A different set of figures for average full time annual earnings this year sees us bottom once again on £20,840, compared with £23,537 in South Holland and £22,362 in East Lindsey. Perhaps it’s time for some serious New Year resolutions in the borough’s Economic Development Department.

 We note with some satisfaction the pledge by Lincolnshire County Council to bring superfast broadband to at least 90% of homes and businesses in the county by 2015. The council is to add £10m to a central government grant of £14.3m to upgrade the county's broadband network with fibre optic cables, plus improved equipment and exchanges. Although our internet will then move at the speed of light, the county is taking it more easily – with no plans to appoint a contractor for the project until “the end of 2012.” Meanwhile, BT has already announced that it is extending its roll out of superfast broadband to Grantham, Spalding, Gainsborough and Bourne. Gainsborough? Bourne?  Bourne?  Yet again, Boston is left at the bottom of the list as usual.

Having said that, what is the point of all this technology if it is not made use of?  We note that almost without exception our local and county councillors who run websites or blogs have not published anything on them for ages – in some cases as long as six months... or more. We were happy to praise those members who were bold enough to engage with the new technology – but if they do not plan to make continued use of it, then they should close their sites, resume using quill pens and ignoring their electorate.
Although it’s a depressing subject at any time, more attention seems to be paid to road deaths around this time of year than any other. Using official data recorded by the police between 1999 and 2010, the BBC has plotted a map showing every road accident in which someone died – a total of 36,371 fatalities. You can find out what the situation is in Boston by entering your postcode. You can access the page by clicking here

Issues surrounding immigration have emerged in the past few days. Firstly came news that the government e-petition 'No to 70 million' recently reached 126,156 signatures - and the government has notified the Backbench Business Committee in the House of Commons.  Whether it will result is a debate is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, in an update on the petition, which was signed by many people here in Boston, the government says the response "shows that the public feel strongly that immigration is too high and that it should continue its work to bring numbers under control.”
Not only that, but our local MP Mark Simmonds raised his head above the parapet in a House of Commons debate on immigration earlier this week. He took the opportunity to put Boston under the national spotlight – and you can read more about that on this coming Monday’s blog.

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com   Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
Our former blog is archived at: http://bostoneyelincolnshire.blogspot.com