A Christmas message from Herbert Ingram

(pictured at the Chistmas Market)

We didn’t burden you with the election results last week …

a)      Because we thought you’d be fed up to the back teeth with the load of old ballots, and

b)      Because the result was a forgone conclusion anyway.

***

The national result was as expected – and even Matt Warman’s vastly increased majority of 25,632 might have been anticipated given the exit poll prediction.

What was slightly surprising was how badly the rival parties fared – with reports of a recount being needed to determine whether two candidates might forfeit their deposits.

***

Locally, the by-elections in Kirton & Frampton and Skirbeck saw victory for the Tories as well, and re-cemented by party’s control in Worst Street.

Former cabinet member David Brown – who lost out in May in Wyberton – was streets ahead of his two rivals in Kirton & Frampton, while newcomer Martin Howard won in Skirbeck.
Both were immediately rewarded with cabinet places – Councillor Brown takes over tourism, arts, culture and heritage (he was previously head of rubbish) whilst Councillor Howard is in charge of finance and governance.
It's an interesting and responsibile portfolio for one completely new to local government –  but as a business studies lecturer at Boston College, we're sure that he'll soon get the hang of it.

***

Despite all their waffle, enthusiasm for independent candidates evaporated – perhaps because neither the ‘true’ independents nor the ‘we are not a group’ Bostonian Independent Group ‘independents’ have been seen to do anything much at all.

***

And before one of our noisier indies sounds his usual battle cry of “look at our voting record”, the answer is that we can’t because – other than in exceptional circumstances – how councillors vote at meetings is not made public.

Why they can’t just get on with the business of trying to run a decent council instead of all this posing around is simply beyond us.

***

Still, it could have been worse – a self-styled “Skirbeck Independents” duo has its own website – and if their preferred candidate had won, it wouldn’t have surprised us to have seen them break away from the Bostonian Independents to form a third independent gaggle ... as three is the magic number to go solo and retain one’s committee seats.
That’s unless you’re a Labour councillor when you appear to get special concessions.

***

Despite all these claims of being non-partisan, the decisions made in BTAC-ky – our town centre ‘parish’ council – shows that so-called independents bend the knee and do whatever the leadership decrees.

This must surely be the case, given that BTAC-ky’s thirteen members number seven ‘independents’ two Labour and only four Tories – despite which they are helping the leadership at every turn to fritter away their local taxpayers’ money on wine, women and song whilst the wards where many of the payees live are neglected, dirty and uncared for.

***

BTAC-ky’s grovelling even earned special praise from Worst Street ‘leader’ Aaron Spencer, whose webpage fluted: “I’m delighted to see that, following extensive discussion, the Boston Town Area Committee have agreed to fund events within the Borough throughout 2020, including the introduction of additional events.

I’m excited to see the relaunch of the historic and once highly popular Party in the Park, taking over from the hugely successful Music and Beer Festival held earlier this year.”

***

Councillor Spencer frequently trumpets his “excitement” and “delight” at the “fantastic” goings-on in Boston – but dare we suggest that he ought to keep a closer eye on what his PR manager (yes, really) writes on his behalf.
Whilst we know that in these interesting times, we can identify as whatever we wish – we would have thought that someone of Councillor Spencer’s political longevity might have known how to spell “By-election”.

Unless of course such events can now choose a sexual identity!

***

A couple of weeks ago, we would have suggested that the two might have ample time to consult over a coffee in the works canteen, as both reported that they were employed at Boston West Leisure –  which was acquired by former councillor Alistair Arundell soon after his resignation from Worst Street.
But Mr Spencer and his mouthpiece now no longer apparently have a shared workplace in common.

Just a short while ago, Councillor Spencer's declaration of pecuniary interests looked like this ...

But those were the days –  now, the form has been amended.
Having said that, a caller to Boston West who asked for the name of the man in charge after the amendment appeared that was told to write either to Alistair Arundel or Arron Spencer ...

***

At least the form is apparently up to date.

Councillor Brown's submission appeared to be the one he filled in when previously elected in 2015 –when he declared himself a member of ... UKIP.
It remained online on WorstWeb – the borough's awful website – long enough to excite some wry comment – before being removed by whoever posted it in the first place ... and it may not have been Councillor Brown, or course.
Perhaps it was one of Worst Street's little helpers. If so they need speaking to.

It’s always good to have mates …they never let you down, do they?

And that certainly was the case when Worst Street decided to undergo something called a Corporate Peer Challenge by the Local Government Association.

***

A team of six senior officers and councillors collectively spent more than 270 hours to determine their findings – the equivalent of one person spending more than seven weeks in Boston.

***

Whilst we’ll have more on this in a future blog, here were the headlines …

Recognise Worst Street?

No, nor did we.

***

Whilst some councillors are self important and feel that they are something that little bit special, here’s news of one who appears keen to hide her light under a bushel ...

***

A planning application to build another property in the grounds of her house was submitted to Boston Borough council way back in July – and at the time, the applicant indicated no affiliation to the council – a question asked in the interests of openness and transparency, at which Worst Street excels.

***

However, a later form saw all that change …

It’s easily done we suppose, but at least the rules were served eventually – although sadly the application was rejected.

***

We end on a Christmas note … a pastiche on a well-known carol – penned by Mrs Eye.

Sung to tune of ‘Hark! the Herald Angels Sing’ (with apologies)

 

Hark! the herald, angels sing,

Boston's got another bin

Come on now, it can't be hard

Squeeze it into your back yard

Jobsworths hoping for a rise

Search your trash with eagle eyes

Folk who do not toe the line

Might soon get a hefty fine

Hark! the herald, angels sing,

Boston’s got another bin.

Purple takes your card and paper

Sorting it will be a caper

Greasy chips bags are no go

And things stained by to-ma-to

Christmas causes extra trouble

Users will be in a muddle

What to throw and in which bin

(Tinsel is a mortal sin)

 

Jobsworths hoping for a tip

May find they will take a trip

Head first - any bin will do

Merry Christmas to you too

Hark! the herald, angels sing,

Boston’s got another bin.

That’s it from us for this year.

Thanks to the thousands of you who’ve paid us a visit in the last twelve months.

Have a splendid Christmas – and we hope that you will enjoy a happy and prosperous New Year.

We hope to be back sometime in January – unfortunately the NHS beckons once again and so we can’t say exactly when.

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com

E– mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

Our former blog is archived at: http://bostoneyelincolnshire.blogspot.com

We are on Twitter – visit @eye_boston

Not one election in Boston

but three – so which Jack

(or Jill) will spring from

the ballot boxes?

According to our senior national politicians – and of course, we believe them, don’t we? – this week’s general election will be a gamechanger the like of which the country hasn’t seen for generations.

***

According to our local Boston politicians, unless the present controlling group is allowed to continue to work its magic on the borough, Boston will not continue to develop, improve and enjoy the surfeit of superb services that it has since the group took power.

And of course, we believe them as well, don’t we?

***

And at this point, we watched the sky

Whilst through the clouds a pig did fly.

***

In more than half a century of eligibility to vote we have never missed an election – be it national or local – but this latest call to put our ‘X’ in the box for both an MP and a couple of councillors has left us cold.

***

We are quite certain that had he been bold enough, candidate Matt Warman – who has represented Boston and Skegness at Westminster since May 2015 – would have nipped back to the House of Commons and hung his towel on the best lounger at the parliamentary poolside … so likely is he to be re-elected on Thursday.

***

Mr Warman faces challenges from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and an Independent in the battle for our votes.

Labour has a new candidate after the previous four elections since 2005 saw Paul Kenny steer party support to mounting losses aside from a brief resurgence in 2017.

He’s Ben Cook, a local supermarket worker, father, trade union organiser who says he knows what it’s like to live on a low income – and so ticks all the right boxes for his candidature

***

The Lib-Dem candidate, Hilary Jones, lives in the Derby North constituency, and is a Liverpool-born politician who has gone through the Tory and UKIP parties on her road to Liberal Democracy in her adopted area.

***

The Independent candidate is local driving instructor Peter Watson, who was elected to Kirton Parish Council a couple of years ago and to Boston Borough Council in May.

***

As far as leafleting to canvass our support is concerned, at the time of writing, we had received something from all four – although there was a time when candidates would deliver enough literature to fill a purple wheelie bin.

Now, it seems that they can scarcely bother.

***

And as for the online photographs …

***

They’re few and far between as well – and when they do appear, we’d rather that they didn’t.

***

Topping our list for the party pictures that should never have been posted because they are so awful are these two ….

First, this from Matt Warman.

In this offering, Mr. Warman – who is beginning to take on the gloss of  a career politician on the rise –  appears momentarily to have distracted the Prime Minister’s gaze from a small pot of flowers to something elsewhere … 

Certainly, the PM seems less than interested in the man holding his hand whilst grabbing his arm long enough to ensure that he doesn’t flee the frame.

***

If that was the best picture that I had of myself with the great and glorious leader, I would have thrown it away – or better still disposed of it entirely to ensure that it didn’t fall into the wrong hands and embarrass me in years to come.

***

Surely, Labour couldn’t do any worse, could they?

WRONG ...

… the candidate appears apparently trapped in the forks of a tree in a snapshot that’s too dark on one side and dominated on the other by a supporter who can’t even hold the party flyer the right way up.

Years ago, when our snaps were posted off to Gratispool and returned by post a fortnight later, we were stuck with the result – but in these days of digital photography there’s just no excuse.

***

If you can’t take another one that gets the job done properly, then it’s better not to bother, as pictures like these look as if the people who posted them really couldn’t care less.

***

From indifference nationally, we slip seamlessly into a look at indifference locally.

***

Two seats on Boston Borough council are up for a by-election.

The first to fall vacant was Skirbeck – when local businessman and tourism portfolio holder Alistair Arundell called time on his political career.

The other is Kirton and Frampton – which saw the departure of another Tory, Shaun Blackman.

***

Both seats return three councillors – which puts them among the three biggest wards … the other is Fishtoft.

Yet despite their size, voter enthusiasm back in May was disappointing.

In Skirbeck a total of 2,736 votes represented a turnout of just 22.3%, making it the lowest of the fifteen wards, whilst Kirton and Frampton with 2,397 votes cast a turnout that was little better – with 25.2%, the fifth lowest.

***

  

Certainly, Boston Borough Council hasn’t done much to generate interest among voters.

Information about the general election on their website can be found by following the link “view council services,” then selecting “elections” from the middle box in the fourth row down.

This takes you to a wordy chunk that includes another link to read the statement of persons nominated.

And if you want to know who’s standing for the council by-elections you need to follow yet another link – to “public notices” … always assuming that you knew that these notices are the official home of such information, which is also supposed to appear in our local “newspapers.”

And again, whilst other local districts bent over backwards on social media to remind us of the importance of voter registration, postal voting, and turning up on the day to make your mark, in Boston you could be forgiven if you thought that nothing was going on.

We’re also interested as to why our chief executive is listed as the returning officer for the local council contests but only the “acting” returning officer for the general election – which pays a welcome pre-Christmas bonus of £3,289, compared with just a few hundred for the two by-elections.

***

Our local “newspapers” have shown similar disinterest in local democracy this time around, and the only media to have faintly flirted with some kind of coverage has been BBC Radio Lincolnshire – which came up with a baffling stunt called “Pub Politics” which saw afternoon presenter William Wright “meet local general election candidates in the pub to get their thoughts on different subjects.”

Don’t ask us why.

***

The Boston and Skegness half-full glass was broadcast from the Woolpack pub in Wainfleet – and apposite choice given the wooliness of a programme which left us with the impression that we had been fleeced of a decent debate. 

No-so-jovial mine host Mr Wright muttered through a series of ums and errs peppered with occasional lip smacking and now and then even some discernible words to try to reassure us that we were listening to a speech-based radio programme.

We were particularly struck by his Andrew Neil-style grilling of Matt Warman for failing to obey a command to give only a yes or no answer on whether he voted to remain in the EU or to leave – something that no Westminster politician is capable of doing.

In a petulant display of pointless grilling, it took three goes verbally to batter Mr Warman into compliance – by which time his answer had become so clear that he sounded quite surprised by such unnecessary presenter persistence.

As were we.

***

Three of the four candidates managed to make it – Lib Dem Hilary Jones couldn’t be there in person for this one-off event but was there in spirit as in the form of occasional inserts into the programme ...

***

If you missed it or want to hear it again – and who wouldn’t – then there’s still time. It’s on the BBC website until Christmas Eve if you click here

***

So, now back to the by-elections.

Skirbeck has six candidates seeking the single seat – down from nine contenders last May when all three seats were us for grabs.

Two unsuccessful candidates from last time are standing again.

They are Jackie Barton for Labour who polled 265 votes last time, and Christopher Moore for the Blue Revolution Party who came last … with 186 votes.

***

Other candidates are: Martin Howard for the Conservatives, Lib Dem Jason Stevenson and Independents Don Jenkins and Sue Ransome.

***

Because many candidates these days opt not to disclose their addresses, we can’t tell you whether some are local to the ward as a  number are not saying so.

But we do know that Conservative Mr Howard lives in the South Holland District Council area, and the Lib Dems Jason Stevenson is from Wyberton. Labour’s Ms Barton and Independent Don Jenkins will only admit to an address in the borough – while Mr Moore and Mrs Ransome hail from Fishtoft and Wyberton respectively.

***

Only one of the candidates has previous political experience as far as we know.

Sue Ransome served as a UKIP councillor at both county and borough level for several years, and most recently was chairman of the Boston Town Area Committee, which covers Skirbeck, until she lost her Station Ward seat at last May’s elections.

***

In Kirton and Frampton, five candidates stood for the three seats in May compared with three targeting the single seat this time around.

David Brown from Sutterton hopes to make a comeback for the Tories – switching his allegiance from the Wyberton seat he lost back in May.

Mr Brown previously served at Worst Street for four years and at one time held the unenviable portfolio for rubbish – aka environment – as well as being chairman of the Planning Committee.

Neither of the other candidates contested the seat last time.

The new entrants are Liberal Democrat Alan Taylor and Independent Lorraine O’Connor.

Mr Taylor lives in the ward, but Ms O’Connor doesn’t say – but is being enthusiastically backed by Witham Ward Councillor Neill Hastie who is saying good things about other independents as well.

***

As far as local campaigning is concerned, we can’t speak of the candidates in Kirton and Frampton.

But as Skirbeck is where our headquarters at No 1 Eye Street is located – we can tell you that, at the time of writing, only two of the six candidates had put a leaflet through our door.

One thing is for sure – BiG won’t be getting our vote after one of our existing councillors from that party has refused any assistance to Boston and Mrs Eye as voting and taxpaying residents of the ward after taking umbrage at a mention in our blog. 

Even though we keep our private lives and our writings separate and distinct.

There’s democracy and ‘service’ for you!

***

Which brings us seamlessly on to a particular bee in our bonnet … Independents – are they or aren’t they what they claim?

***

Two of the candidates in our by-elections – Kirton and Frampton’s  Lorraine O’Connor, and Don Jenkins in Skirbeck – are associated with the Bostonian Independent Group.

The BiG faction currently numbers five members – including two from Skirbeck and one from Kirton and Frampton.

At no point either in previous elections or the current polls to fill the two outstanding vacancies have candidates identified with BiG – and last time they stood as ‘Independents’ and  did not declare their group relationship afterwards.

***

These BiGgers claim that they are as independent as the next man and woman – in which case we wonder why they differentiate themselves from six other councillors who merely declare themselves as Independent with just a capital ‘I.’

***

There was a time when Boston BiG was a political party – and it only deregistered earlier this year.

Members persist in claiming that they are simply independents acting under a different name to other independents – but we have heard examples of them acting together in a way that contradicts this claim.

One example occurred not too long ago when BiG took an unusual step for so-called ‘independents’ of expelling one group member at a meeting held in her absence.

The decision was taken by the five remaining members of the group – which of course, isn’t a group but consists of entirely independent minds.

Contradictory?

You betcha!

***

Interestingly however, the creeping trend toward electing independent councillors – whether BiGgers or not – may well prove awkward for the Worst Street controlling group.

According to WorstWeb – the council’s website – control is on something of a knife-edge.

The current political composition of the council is: Conservative 15, Bostonian Independents Group 5, Independents 6, Labour 2, Vacant Seats 2.

Both vacant seats were held by Tories.

Over the years we have seen Tory control steadily nibbled away – and Thursday could see the clock turned back still further to what for donkey’s years was the borough’s default state of No Overall Control.

***

In that case, take pity on our leader – Aaron Spencer – who has valiantly led the council through thick and thicker, whilst retaining the job of finance portfolio when he became leader and more recently adding the tourism portfolio after Alistair Arundell quit.
What in earth will he do if he he doesn't pick up a couple of likely lads to pad out his cabinet and keep him hanging on to power?

Not only that – but according to his declaration of interests he is now a busy boy whenever he manages to get away from Worst Street.

He lists himself as general manager of Boston West – the hotel and wedding venue at Hubberts Bridge – which by an interesting co-incidence was taken over by former Councillor Arundell soon after his resignation.

On top of that he is a director of something called Qualis Possessionem – which appears to be a family run letting and real estate business – as well as being a freelance instructor for an automotive training agency (Councillor Spencer was once a car salesman.) 
And he’s a Lincolnshire county councillor, too.

Add to that “occasional gigs” with his rock band Hydrobats – and we are staggered as how he finds so many hours into the day.

***

So, come Thursday – and despite the inertia of some of the principal players, please – do your best to vote … Make (Ballot) Boxit Happen – and think carefully beore you make your mark.

  

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com

E– mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

Our former blog is archived at: http://bostoneyelincolnshire.blogspot.com

We are on Twitter – visit @eye_boston

Boston Eye is online from 5am on Monday with an Election Special at newbostoneye.blogspot.com  …

+++ Boxit … three ballots in Boston +++ One General election plus Kirton & Frampton and Skirbeck ward at Worst Street +++ Who are the candidates? +++ Are they local? (if they’re telling) +++ Are some as ‘Independent’ as they claim? +++ Make sure you don’t miss our analysis +++