It’s the same with buses – or so we’re told – you wait ages without any, and then three arrive at once.

Last week saw a full council meeting – the first for nearly four months – plus meetings of the cabinet of curiosities and BTAC-ky.

But excitement there was none.

We’re told that the full council meeting made watching paint dry seem like an athletic pursuit.

Attendees who tweeted during the meeting noticed several absentees – but interestingly the appearance of others whose presence was enough to secure their allowances for six more months despite a poor attendance.

It was also remarked on that a number of Tory councillors couldn’t resist tapping at their keyboards even whilst prayers were taking place.

***

We mentioned last week the sterling efforts of the officer/leadership cabal to ensure that several interesting questions were rejected on a technicality – but despite that some people managed to raise what they felt to be important points.

***

In last week’s Boston Eye, we drew attention to questions posed by Councillor Barrie Pierpoint – one about staffing appointments, and the other concerning officer conduct.

Both questions were directed at council leader Michael Cooper – but rejected on identical grounds: “… your question has not been accepted as the subject is a matter for the Head of Paid Service (aka Chief Executive Phil Drury) not the Leader of the Council.

“If you wish to discuss this issue with Phil, he would be more than happy to do so.”

***

This raises the issue of officer accountability.

Why is it that a councillor who wishes to ask a serious question of a top officer is told that there is no such facility – unless it takes the form of a cosy chat in the boss’s office, which might not achieve the desired result?

***

The first of Councillor Pierpoint’s questions asked: “Considering that Boston Borough Council, as far as we can establish has never had a ‘Deputy Chief Executive’ then on what firm basis has this position been created, and arrived at?

“If my concerns prove correct, was the position advertised nationally, so as to encourage the best talent, skillset, qualified and experienced person to take on such a role, with a view to bringing more added value, expertise and knowledge to the council?

“If not, why not?”

***

We think we know the answer to this as we can find no trace of any advertisement for a deputy chief exec – which means that the job was a shoo-in for the new post holder Michelle Sacks.

Move on – nothing to see here – as Mr Drury was appointed in almost the same way.

He began his career with the council in 1983 – 35 years ago – or 1988 (depending on which page of WorstWeb you’re reading … as a youth trainee in the housing department; left briefly before returning to the housing team and from 1992 held various senior management positions, securing the post of strategic director in 2006.

He finally got the post after deputising for ‘temporary’ Chief Executive Richard Harbord for five years until November 2014.

Interestingly – as it relates to Councillor Pierpoint’s other question, which we’ll come to in a moment  – Mr Harbord was not directly employed by Boston Borough Council – but as a consultant via a private company, which meant that he wasn’t charged tax or national insurance as an ordinary council employee would be.

Mr Harbord’s contract cost £108,000 a year for 15 days a month at £600 a day – a full-time equivalent of £216,000.

***

Mr Drury was appointed after a meeting of the chief officers’ employment panel (an internal committee of councillors) recommended the nomination and an amendment to the council's management structure to merge the roles of strategic director and chief executive.

The then leader Councillor Peter Bedford said the panel had full and frank debate about other options– but it seems that none of those included looking beyond the staff list at the time and advertising the post.

He said it was important that the borough had leadership of high quality and was backed by Labour … Independent these days … Councillor Paul Gleeson.

Boston Chancellor Aaron Spencer said the appointment – which it was claimed would save the council around £105,000 a year was financially prudent.

***

Councillor Pierpoint’s second question was one that was also worth asking …

“It is my understanding that several officers have their own private consultancies or are directors of their own business, as well as acting in specific management roles for Boston Borough Council.

“Is this information transparent and made public, i.e. through the Boston Borough Council website? On what basis are these officers operating when they have their own private companies or directorships? These details should be made available to all councillors immediately.”

***

This matter first raised its head back in late 2015, after a Freedom of Information request identified at least three senior officers who were charging Worst Street for their services through their own companies.

Response to the request also disclosed other companies whose ownership was harder to trace – and for some reason, given that the information showed invoices which ought to have been ‘transparent’ – considerable portions of the bills were redacted.

All of the employees were listed as interim – one had been so for as long as six years. 
And in one blatant example, whilst apparently working full-time for the council, an officer also added charges for 14 days in a single month at £325 a day for his company services to the authority..

***

We raised the issue with Mr Drury in January 2016, and his reply was encouraging: “Two down one to go. Discussions continue in respect of the outstanding direct employment position, but that said I do remain very confident of resolving this before the end of the financial year.”
That would have been by April 2016.

We checked back on the companies named in the original FoI response, and found that one is still active and has a very senior officer as a director, whilst a second was only dissolved in January this year even though a solution was expected a couple of year ago,

***

If council staff are paid through external companies for work they do for the council, then the issue is highly contentious as it allows them to pay reduced income tax and national insurance and enjoy benefits which workers on staff do not.

And even where a company operates independently of the owner’s council role, there must surely be the risk of a conflict of interest on occasion.

***

It appeared that this practice was no longer operating at Boston Borough Council – but only an answer to Councillor Pierpoint’s question will tell us.

***

He has arranged to meet Mr Drury in the near future, and told Boston Eye: “I think that this information that we know about should be on the website.

“People ought to know this, because my argument is if anyone is running a private company they shouldn’t be able to trade in the borough of Boston, because that’s a conflict of interest.

“What are they being paid – a salary – or are they being paid a fee?

“I want to see whether these officers are running their own businesses and invoicing the council – it’s all about transparency in my view.”

***

Last week’s BTAC-ky meeting included an update on the work of the extra staff hired by the committee to keep Boston looking shipshape.

The list was a long one – including graffiti removal, installing signage and 25 new litter bins, chewing gum removal, street vacuuming, pathway maintenance and – a brush with glamour here – helping to put up fake stalls for the film company making Wild Bill.

What isn’t being said it that this was formerly the work of Worst Street in any case – until it ceased due to economy cuts before being reinstated by imposing swingeing tax rises on the poorest wards in the borough.

As we have said before – it is good that the town centre is getting some attention at last.

But it’s not so clever if you live a little further out.

The comparison that springs to mind is with a dictatorship that is staging the Olympic Games.

It creates a glittering core that is the envy of the world whilst within a short distance the squalid suburbs remain dismal and desolate no-go areas.

***

Talking of the TV drama Wild Bill reminds us of a recent item in a national newspaper which again makes us wonder exactly how Boston’s portrayal might look.

The interview in the Sunday Times magazine with actor Rob Lowe who plays the eponymous hero told us: “His role is as an American law-enforcement analyst who is headhunted by the police force in Boston, Lincolnshire, which in 2016 was named the murder capital of Britain.”

We really thought that one had died the death – but it seems that someone has resurrected it. Only time will tell.

***

Council leader Michael Cooper has hit out at a critical tweet that accuses him of continuously swearing at a voter asking him questions. 

Councillor Cooper said that he knew the complainant – who is a long-term critic of Worst Street – and is unhappy with the account presented.

“I was in a café at the end of West Street having my breakfast when he came in and just barracked me for 20 minutes – obnoxious and aggressive and even if there was anything that I could answer, if I answered him it was ‘No! That’s wrong, you’re talking crap.’

“It just went on and on and in the end I’d had enough of it because I thought, I’m trying to have my breakfast, I’m not at work I’m merely doing my own stuff – and I said ‘just f**k off’ and leave me alone – because  I’d had enough … which I think actually was quite reasonable.

“I’ve known him for a long time and he’s pretty aggressive at the best of times but he was particularly obnoxious that morning.

“It’s hardly fair.

“Yes, we’re in the public eye and we’re doing our job and all the rest of it, but I don’t think it’s really fair that we get a kicking when we’re just trying to have our breakfast or go shopping or anything else. We have a life outside of the council, we really do. “We all see things differently and at the end of the day if we just talk to each other, it’s easy. But when it’s like that, it’s not easy for anybody, and no good comes out of it – if you sit down and talk to people you can often see a way forward between you which is the way to go.”

***

Worst Street last week reminded us of the deadline to nominate Boston in the voting to find for Britain’s favourite market in a contest run by the National Association of British Market Authorities.

As a way to win support, the council tweeted “There’s just a couple of days left to show your support for our market traders who brave all weather conditions to bring their weekly bargains to you. Vote for Boston in the national search for Britain’s favourite markets.”

They really ought to get out of the office a bit more – as it has long been a cause for complaint that when the weather is too hot, too cold, too wet, and too windy many traders stay away in droves … giving the market a less than impressive look.

***

Another of Worst Street's big ideas has fallen by the wayside, it seems …

Note the date – a month ago – and the promise to update us weekly.

Five weeks on and we don't seem to have heard another peep from our ‘transparent’ council.

***

Rip-off of the month came into effect as the latest round of price hikes to park at the Pilgrim Hospital came into force.

Why do we call it a rip-off?

Well just look at the charges for the various time bands.

The first hour at £1.70 could be thought reasonable – but as all regular outpatients at the hospital will attest no one gets away with parking for such a short time.

Our typical experience, for example is that it is necessary to arrive and park at least 15 minutes before the appointment time to allow time to find somewhere to park and check in.

After that, the appointment is never on time – with delays ranging from half an hour to an hour and a half.

What this guarantees is that your parking charge will fall into the second tier – and leap from £1.70 to £4.70 … and the £4.70 charge represents a 10½% increase on the previous charge.

It’s what they call shooting fish in a barrel.

The health trust also brags that along with this less than petty larceny, improvements also being made to parking provision for staff and patients.

This takes the form of an automatic number plate recognition system normally used to trap criminals behind the wheel, which can calculate the length of stay to the second – thus making sure that everyone pays as much as possible.

And further to treat us as if we are simple-minded, the trust calls the increase in the cost of parking for patients and visitors an average rise of 10p per hour.

What made matter worse last week was that the equipment failed to work at Boston and Grantham, resulting in lengthy queues and angry patients and visitors

***

Finally, after his listing as one of Lincolnshire hottest 50 Yellowbellies (see last week’s edition) our MP Matt Warman’s charms seem to have won him a big prize in the House of Commons.

We imagine that particularly for newer MPs, getting a decent seat can prove something of a problem – and keeping it even more so – remember when the SNP fought and lost a battle to oust Labour veteran Dennis Skinner from the corner seat he has occupied for decades?

How about this, then?

It’s not the first time we’ve spotted Mr Warman in what some might regard as a prominent front bench position – and could explain which he is so often lucky getting an answer from PM ‘Daisy’ May at Prime Minister’s Question Time!

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

If there were such things as political twitchers, they would out in force tonight just as birdwatchers will travel far and wide to glimpse a lesser spotted woodpecker.

***

Tonight sees the first full council meeting at Worst Street since 9^th July – just two week short of four months.

As if such a hiatus wasn’t bad enough – after all this time, there are just two items on the agenda.

The first of these is a rubberstamping exercise – to receive the confirmed minutes of the Audit and Governance Committee meetings held on 30^th May, 23^rd July and 17^th September.

It’s a bit late now if anyone has an objection – and in any case as they are all confirmed, the stable door has been well and truly closed.

The other item  is  to adopt a statement of principles  setting out council policy for administering and enforcing licences, registrations and permits in accordance with the Gambling Act 2005 – a piece of housekeeping that is required every three years.

***

Stirring stuff, eh?

As with the July meeting that preceded tonight’s the agenda is as dry as the Gobi desert – and just as dusty.

Then, as now, sections C to F of the preliminaries portend a dull and dreary time things …

… to receive communications (if any) from the Mayor and the Chief Executive

… to receive deputations or petitions (if any) …

… to answer questions (if any) from elected members …

… to answer questions (if any) from members of the public …

***

One of the many rules that keep Worst Street so thoroughly hidebound demands that anyone wishing to ask a question conforms to a strict timetable.

***

Members of the council are allowed one question which must arrive at least two working days before the day of the meeting – so questions for tonight have had to be submitted no later than the middle of last week.

Answers are made available to the questioner four working hours before the start of the meeting, and the questioner is allowed one supplementary enquiry which is usually the way he or she tries to wrong-foot the person – usually a cabinet member – being asked.

***

Members of the public may ask questions of the leader, any cabinet member or the chairman of any panel or committee at ordinary meetings of the council – and generally the session must not exceed 20 minutes. As with councillors, a question may only be asked if previous notice has been given no later than 5pm two

clear working days before.

***

With such an extended timescale there is no reason for the questions not to appear on the agenda – in fact, once upon a time they did.

But a problem with that for Worst Street was that it gave a heads up to the public and the press if anything contentious or interesting was going to come up – perish the thought.

***

The July agenda looked as tonight’s does – but on the night, no fewer than fifteen questions were asked by councillors of cabinet members. But by then anyone who might have fancied attending would have decided that there was no business worth bothering about – which we suspect was the intention from the outset.

***

Full council meetings – which were once lively with debate and progressive through argument, discussion and concession – are now attended by and large by a sorry bunch of de-fanged and de-clawed political eunuchs.

***

Whilst the agenda lists no questions, we know that at least three were submitted by the Bostonian Independents’ Group which is seeking to encourage more openness within Worst Street.

But their efforts have come to nothing – because a handy loophole for the ruling group and the officer classes has seen the questions rejected.

***

The questions concerned some important issues.

One asked whether information about Worst Street officers who ran private consultancies or were directors of their own business was transparent and made public, whilst a second raised concerns about the creation and appointment of a deputy chief executive post.

These were rejected on the grounds that staffing was the responsibility of the Head of Paid Service – that’s the Chief Executive – and not the Leader, and that there no provision to ask him questions at full council meetings

The third question concerned the installation of a biomass boiler at a care home on London Road which we have rcovered in previous issues. It was rejected because the application had been approved and the issue was deemed done and dusted – even though the questions were still pertinent.

***

We’ll have more about this and related issues in next week’s Boston Eye.

***

Lincolnshire Police last week chose Road Safety Week to launch Operation Safe Pass – itself part of Project Tandem – to educate road users on a safe distance to keep when passing cyclists ... which they have decreed as a minimum of 1.5 metres, to chime with the rhyme “keep them alive at 1.5”

In Lincoln , they used a police officer as ‘bait’ to pull over 27 drivers for passing too closely – an ‘offence’ that could be prosecuted as driving without due care and attention … costing the driver between 3 and 9 points and a fine of between £100 and £5,000.

A report quoted the police claim that: “The main aim of Operation Safe Pass is to make sure that everyone knows the requirement to give a safe distance 1.5 metres when passing bikes and secondly, that they stick to the requirement.”

***

The campaign is a rip off of an identical project – dubbed Operation Velo – staged by Cambridgeshire Police in February which recommended a passing distance of 1.5 metres.

By some strange alchemy, the recommendation has transmuted by the time it reached Lincolnshire into a requirement – which as far as we can see is not the case.

The pressure group Cycling UK does not recommend a minimum distance law but would prefer to see minimum distance guidelines within the Highway Code which currently suggests giving cyclists plenty of room.

In March this year, the motoring magazine Auto Express reported that the Department for Transport was investigating new road rules, with minimum distance for overtaking cyclists being considered and that the DfT had also announced a call for evidence on cycling, and funding for three bike safety projects.

***

We are particularly struck by the police manipulation of the rules where cyclists are concerned as Boston is a special case in its own right.

Day in and day out,  pedestrians in the town run the gauntlet of  dangerous cycling which ranges from the simply thoughtless to the downright dangerous.

Selfish and sometimes feral cyclists who think they own the roads and make the laws are part of the town’s history ... probably since the day in 1817 that Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn invented the Hobby Horse.

Take a look a this …

Note that the cyclist veers across the path of the car about to move off from a blind spot. The bike is unbalanced by heavy bags of groceries. It has no lights on and it is pure coincidence that the traffic lights changed when they did as the rider’s clear intention was to jump the red light. 

A second or two earlier,  and the cyclist might have ended up beneath the wheels of the car.

And who would the police have blamed in the absence of webcam footage?

***

Last Tuesday was local government’s Our Day – when councils all around the country tweeted about the things they did that demonstrated why they were worth what they were worth.

In Boston, Worst Street went about the business of unlocking doors, sending out bills and similar exciting stuff – at least neighbouring South Holland District Council put together a few short videos that made their job seem more exciting. .

***

But for one brief moment the dreary Worst Street day was enlivened by a tweet which asked whether the council had installed weighing apparatus on its refuse fleet and if it planned to charge to collect rubbish by the load.

The emphatic answer NO and NO raised an Eyebrow.

It’s not that long since we mentioned such a purchase at £600 quid a pop, and raised the same question, and our recollection was confirmed by the council’s own expenditure records for March.

The registrations refer to five vehicles in the refuse fleet – and a sixth was listed elsewhere.

So if NO (1) was not exactly truthful, what does that say about NO (2)?

***

Thursday sees the switching on of Boston’s Christmas lights – including the fourth big Illuminate parade by arts organisation Transported.

Illuminate is tied to the 400^th  anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in America – an event that has little to do with Boston.

Back in 2015, a report to Boston Borough Council said that: “As part of the lead up to 2020 and the Mayflower 400 celebrations ... an initiative known as Illuminate, is being rolled out  ...  (with) the intention that on each Thanksgiving Day leading up to 2020 an Illuminate event … be held in the respective towns and cities.

“The fact that these Thanksgiving Days occur at the same time we normally begin our own Christmas lead-in, presents opportunities…

“… We are working … to seek to host an Illuminate event to coincide with the traditional lights switch on.

“If this proceeds and if successful it would be hoped that this could continue in future years, leading to 2020.”

So here we are again with another Thanksgiving event to coincide with the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians sharing an autumn feast in 1621 after a successful harvest.

But apparently, no-one in Worst Street  cottoned on to the fact that US Thanksgiving Day this year was celebrated last week – on Thursday 22^nd ... which is when the hordes of other local councils involved in Mayflower 400 staged their Illuminate processions.
Another motto for Boston Borough Council ... Potius sero quam numquam  – Better Late Than Never!

***

After we mentioned the Assembly Rooms and the flying of the Union Jack on special occasions, a reader got in touch with a far more prosaic suggestion – which is to get the building’s clock telling the right time. Presumably, it has simply run down – but as the only other publicly visible clock in Boston – above the New Look shop – has stopped as well, it would be a public service to get them running.

Perhaps BTAC could set up a committee called BTICK or BTOCK to address the task.

***

It seems that our MP Matt Warman has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Mark Simmonds.

He recently appeared in the Lincolnshire Live website sexy list – “Our ultimate list of the hottest 50 Yellowbellies features people from all walks of life from the famous and successful to people you've probably never heard of.

“These people embody the word sexy and prove that sexiness isn’t all about looks (although that obviously helps)!

“The list is made up of people who live in, come from or have a connection to Lincolnshire.”

Mr Warman appeared at number 36 – between Swing Out Sister vocalist Corinne Drewery at 35 and fellow MP Victoria Atkins, who represents Louth and Horncastle at 37.

The blurb told us: “The youthful MP for Boston and Skegness since May 2015 has not been one to shy away from a debate – and he's got a little sparkle in his eye at the same time.

“Sexiness can come in many forms and being passionate about what you believe in floats many people’s boats.”

But what about Mr Simmonds?

Shortly before he left the commons his name appeared at Number 66 on a site called SexyMP.co.uk.

Created by ex-Made in Chelsea star Francis Boulle, My Sexy MP showed two random MPs' photos and asks users who they'd rather have sex with.

The site rapidly vanished but not before becoming the most popular banned website in parliament.

Mr Simmonds’ moment in the sun was brief – soon after, when he quit parliament complaining that £112,000 a year wasn’t enough to live on, words such as charmless and moron were rapidly bandied about by commentators.

Having said that it appear that Mr Simmonds retains a fondness for his one-time parliamentary honorific – as this clip from a recent report on the Nigerian National Wire website shows..

***

Finally – Worst Street’s customary disregard for reality recently brought a smile to our face.

 

Even the untutored eye will note that the new bins are square, and therefore incapable of rolling anywhere!

Which prompted us to pen this little verse…

Only in Boston would the council declare

That new bins were ‘rolled out’

When in fact they are square!

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

The adage has it that if you take care of the pennies, then the pounds will look after themselves …

But in a case recently brought to the attention of Boston Eye it would seem that if you don’t take care of the pennies … someone else will do it for you!

***

A former supporter of the Boston Bypass Independents party – created and led by the now independent conservative councillor Richard Austin – which swept to power on Boston Borough Council in May 2007, then crashed and burned after failing to deliver … was stunned to discover that the £5 a month she signed up for many years ago to support a party lottery was still being taken from her account and over time had amounted to hundreds of pounds. 

***

That’s despite the party ceding power to the Tories in 2011 after losing 21 of its 25 seats, then throwing in the towel and rebranding as the Boston District Independents.

***

Mrs Jane Curley, of Holland Fen, and her husband Guy were both enthusiastic supporters of the BBI.

Mrs Curley told Boston Eye: “My husband was in the original party.

“I was in the Conservative Party first and I desperately wanted the roads sorted out and the schools sorted out and they seemed to be talking sense.”

She stood for the BBI in Swineshead and Holland Fen in 2011 against well-established political heavyweights Tory Michael Brookes and Independent Richard Leggott – but nonetheless was pleased with her result.

And it was about that time that she signed up for the BBI lottery – promising to chip in £5 a month.

***

Fast forward several years, and Mrs Curley was going through her bank statement to try to shave a few pounds off her expenses.

“I must admit that I’m not very good at checking my bank account and I decided to look through my direct debits to see if I could shed anything to save a bit of money and I was absolutely gobsmacked that I was still paying it,” NHS worker Mrs Curley told Boston Eye at the end of a 12-hour shift.

“Once the bypass party had packed up I thought that would all have been cancelled. But it was obviously still going into an account to the Boston Bypass people – and I have no recollection of which bank it was going into.”

***

She cancelled it – “and that was after I contacted a friend of mine who was also in the bypass party. She had no idea about what was going on either and suggested that I contact Helen Staples (who took over the leadership of the Boston District Independents which superseded the BBI – Ed.)  

“I must admit I didn’t, but a week later she phoned and said she didn’t know anything about it and that we should contact Richard Austin.

“Well, I had tried to contact Richard Austin initially as my first port of call and it was very, very difficult ...

“But I’m getting a bit old.

“You’ll probably find out easily – but I’m one of those unfortunate women who’ve been caught having to do what some call a life sentence to retire.

“I’m over 60 but can’t retire until I’m 66.

“It’s quite upsetting, so we need to cut back on everything, and a refund would be quite helpful – although I’m not expecting it.

“To be quite honest, I gave up then; I thought ‘they’re all going to close ranks and I’m not going to get anywhere and they’re going to say it was an insignificant amount to them.’

“I mean it’s a lot of money to me – but probably insignificant to them.

“But I would like to know where and what the money has been used for …”

***

Boston Eye e-mailed Councillor Austin for a comment last Thursday morning … and he replied the following day with a response that sounds as though Christmas may have come early in the Curley household.

“I am pleased that you have Jane Curley’s contact details,” he wrote, “as in the near future I would have been renewing my efforts to make contact with her. It is difficult to understand why she has not been able to contact me, being a Borough and Parish Councillor and also my phone number is in the phone book.

“I was made aware from a third party a few weeks ago that Jane had discovered that she had been paying £5 per month into a BBI account. The BBI party was disbanded several years ago and the Treasurer was asked to close all the accounts.

“Unfortunately the Treasurer moved from the area and died so there were no bank statements or information to hand about the account or signatories. Furthermore Jane could not be located to help. Richard Lenton kindly agreed to investigate as he has banking experience.

“I am pleased to report that, after great difficulty, Richard has identified the bank and the account. About ten days ago the bank agreed to provide statements, within three weeks, going back to 2011 that hopefully will show the amount Jane has paid in and other details. Please ask Jane to contact me so that any money paid in by her can be returned in full. 

“This account was controlled by the Treasurer but my recall, from 2011, is that the lottery element was a very minor issue. Hopefully the bank statements will help. Jane is welcome to see them when they arrive.

“I very much look forward to seeing Jane again and arranging for this money to be returned to her in full.”

***

Anyone who had hopes that Boston will come up smelling of roses once the TV drama Wild Bill is screened will have had them dashed by an interview with the star playing the role of the US police chief parachuted into Boston to sort things out.

Some of the quotes from actor Rob Lowe on the BBC included: “The faces here are amazing. The old people look like they are in a documentary about Armistice Day! It's that unbelievable, weathered, proud, proper English working class look.

"To throw a high-flying, fast-talking American in to the mix is the perfect fish out of water set up …”

“… It's a perfect place to put a story, the story is all about conflict and people are feeling a lot of conflict here. It's kind of boiling under the surface.

“It's such a unique place and I love shows where you put a character in a place and the place becomes a character itself. And that is what this is, there's nowhere else quite like it. It's never really been seen properly on TV before.

“It's been great cinematically for us to be here. The stories in this area are so uniquely odd and wonderful and putting an American in the centre of all of it is kind of like a great oddity.”

*** 

Last week’s impressive remembrance service at the town’s war memorial – which would have been even more so with better public address facilities – prompted a question from a reader.

He noted that the Assembly Rooms was not flying the Union Jack –  nor had it flown a flag for some time.

That is a shame – and something that should not be happening according to Boston Borough Council, which reported back in 2014 …

“Flags will continue to fly for civic occasions and at times of public celebration over the Assembly Rooms in Boston as they always have, despite a change of ownership.

“New owner, businessman Matt Clark, gave an undertaking to Boston Borough Council at the time of the sale of the building that he would continue to “fly the flag.”

“Mr Clark said: ‘I stressed at the time of the handover that I wanted to see a continuation of community uses at the Assembly Rooms, and this includes use of the flagpole.

“‘I have said on many public forums that the flagpole is not lost and will not be.  I am very happy in continuing to fly any flag that the council would like.

“‘I am determined that the new future for the Assembly Rooms will keep it at the heart of the community, dominating, as it does, the Market Place. I have always accepted that there would be no more appropriate place, at the very heart of the town, for flags to be flown that can easily be seen and admired by all.

“‘I am very much a traditionalist and take great pride in our heritage and different cultures and will support these in Boston as best I am able.”

The impression that we take from this is that it is up to Boston Borough Council to request the flying of flags on special occasions.

Did they perhaps forget to ask for that most important of days?

***

Another question raised was about how Worst Street interpreted the date of the event ...

We assume the numbers are meant to signify the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month – but given the way dates are now written gave the impression that the war ended seven years before it started. 

***

Recent reports said that new measures that make police forces responsible for pension contributions previously provided by the government could see Lincolnshire Police facing a £21 million shortfall in the next two years.

The county’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Marc Jones, was reported as saying: “Even after all of the effort and money invested in recent years to innovate and transform Lincolnshire Police into one of the most forward thinking and efficient forces in the country we are still faced with a funding gap of £17m over the next two years that our depleted reserves simply cannot meet.

“This extra cost pressure could boost that number to an incredible £21m that can only be met by additional grant from central government, contributions from local taxpayers and or a total reorganisation of the force and a reduced level of service to the people of Lincolnshire.”

***

Having said that, around the same time, Mr Jones was highlighting a report which showed that two uniformed officers on the beat prevented 86 assaults and saved thousands in prison costs.

He tweeted: “We know from recent outstanding results in Lincoln centre that a small team can make a huge difference. Prevention is better and cheaper than cure.”

The report said that the result of a year-long experiment in Peterborough showed that PCSO foot patrols targeting crime ‘hot spots’ could yield a more than five-to-one return: with every £10 spent saving £56 in prison costs.

Targeting each crime ‘hot spot’ in the city with 21 extra minutes of daily foot patrolling by Police Community Support Officers could save the justice system hundreds of thousands of pounds through prevented crime.

Police on the streets? On foot? A breath-taking new idea – why has no one thought of it before?

***

Last week we talked about Boston’s CCTV system and the number of times that its eagle eye comes up with inconclusive results – such as happened with the recent vandalising of the aviary in Central Park.

Another fairly regular target is another park – in this case the one in Garfit’s Lane.

Earlier this month a dog walker who visits the park daily snapped the scene below. 

The gouges in the football pitch in the foreground appear to have been caused by a motorcycle.

The towering post with a ringside view of events is – yes, you’ve guessed it – a CCTV camera.

Yet again, whatever happened appeared to go unnoticed by the camera – and prompted an e-mail to the local councillor – Independent Conservative Alison Austin.

The e-mail was sent at 10-22am on the morning of 7^th November and without too much mental strain it was possible to guess that the damage had been done within 24 hours of the writer’s last visit to the park.

***

Back came the reply: “I am extremely grateful to residents who let me know about incidents as soon as possible after they occur, preferably with some indication of when they might have taken place. For the example, last night (7^th  November) between 10 pm and 6 am if it was noticed to have been overnight.

“I cannot visit every part of the ward every day and therefore appreciate the cooperation of public spirited residents.

“Once I am given adequate information I can set appropriate action in place.”

Helpful, or what?

The response apologised  and estimated that the damage was done on the evening of 6^th November.

And that’s the last we’ve heard of it. so our best guess is that yet again CCTV was looking the other way at a crucial moment ...

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