26/08/2009 by Steve Tierney.

March West
Following the sad death of Peter Skoulding, the March West District Council Seat will shortly become a political battleground during the necessary by-election that is triggered when a seat becomes vacant.
  
So far we know the Conservative candidate will be Steve Count.  I’ve never met Mr. Count but I do know that he beat off stiff competition to be selected as the Conservative candidate and that he did this despite something of a history of causing the Conservative-run District Council headaches in the past.  The Wisbech Standard columnist Breakespeare had to admit that the fact that our party were so quick to forgive and forget was an interesting and encouraging development.  Of course, those of us who are active Conservatives know that the party doesn’t deserve half the criticism that opponents sometimes throw our way.  The right man for the job (in the view of those selecting) will usually be chosen because that’s the correct thing to do.
  
Meanwhile, local independent Reg Kemp has also thrown his hat into the ring.  I’ve seen his comments plenty of times since he’s not at all shy at making his opinions known (much the same can be said about me - I’m aware!)  He has recently been a member of the political ‘party’ called “Jury Team” (I’m not sure if he still is) - you might remember them, they were beaten by just about everybody except maybe Animals Count, mostly due to the fact that the only thing they seem to stand for is that they don’t want to stand for anything.    He lost the County elections in June, beaten fairly resoundingly by Cllr. John Clark.  He’s also well-known for his disdain for Freemasons and his attempts to have them removed from any office they might hold at the District council.  An interesting character who will be entertaining during the short campaign, I’m sure.
  
Among those who are interested in local politics there is a lot of discussion about who might win this.  Some previous by-elections have been unopposed and so the fact that this might be more of a battle is causing some excitable folk to salivate. 

Some commentators think that Labour have a chance here but I doubt that very much.  Labour, in my opinion, are a dead duck right now.  I don’t see them as a major threat this year in Fenland.  But UKIP are a fly in the ointment.  If they have a candidate in, that makes things more uncertain.  As for the Lib Dems?  Who knows with those guys?  Sometimes they come out all guns blazing and other times they fizzle out like damp sponge (do damp sponges ‘fizzle’?  I suppose not.  Oops.  Bad adjective.  It’s been a long day!) 

Whatever the case it’ll sure be an interesting one and it’s just a terrible shame that it has come about through such tragic circumstances. 

If I were a betting man I’d be betting Conservative.  But, of course, you know that.  

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Posted in March, Liberal Democrats, Labour Party, Fenland District Council, Conservatives | 6 Comments »

04/08/2009 by Steve Tierney.

The Midnight Snack From Hell
The Cambridgeshire Police are in the news today after reports that they have mishandled DNA samples and allowed holding cells to fall into disrepair.   News that March police station kept one sample in a fridge alongside some half-eaten take-away has created quite a fuss.

My good buddies at the Cambs Times report:-
“Fridges in most suites were full of forensic samples that had not been dealt with and there was widespread evidence of systematic failings in the handling, storing and destruction of forensic and DNA samples.”
Which probably says a lot about the under-funding of the Police by this negligent Labour government, rather than about the Police themselves. With the best will in the world, how can we expect the Police to do all the tasks we want them to do but with ever fewer officers, ever less money and ever more paperwork and regulation strangling their operations?  Please don’t get me wrong.  I’m not excusing them.  I’d prefer a tight, disciplined Police operation in this respect as much as anyone else.  But we have to at least try and be fair, don’t we?
  
Then the report says:-
Inspectors saw a group of officers laughing while watching a drunken prisoner smash his head on the wall of a cell.
Which is shocking, if it’s a true representation of events.    But can you really imagine a group of police officers behaving like this?  And if you believe there are evil police officers out there - would they behave like this the day the inspector is there?  And if that were the case what was the inspector doing?  Just raising eyebrows and writing in a notepad?  Were I assigned the task of ‘inspector’ and faced with these events I’d be demanding what the hell was going on, that it stop immediately and asking for names and ranks!
    
Another criticism includes:-
According to the report, a swastika carved into the wall of a cell was left for months, and only covered with paint when inspectors complained.
There cannot be a more reprehensible symbol than the swastika.  But I would imagine unpleasant graffiti is a fact of life in cells - given the nature of some of their occupants.   Do we seriously expect the police to send in officers with paint and tools every other day?  I suspect the maintenance that would remove the disgusting symbol would have taken place in due course - the inspector just hurried it along.  Perhaps I’m crazy here, but I think it’s rather good that the inspector made the point and the Police responded to it promptly.  Isn’t that the system working the way it should?
  
One last snippet I’d like to consider:-
POLICE kept DNA samples in a fridge alongside a half-eaten take-away meal.
Pity the poor police officer, half-awake after a gruelling shift, stumbling to the fridge to grab the leftovers of Kentucky Fried Chicken she didn’t manage to finish earlier due to her heavy workload.  Bleary-eyed she grabs at the first receptacle and pours its contents into her mouth.  Only to find it was the wrong container she had grabbed.  Deoxyribonucleic Acid and fries.  For an extra 50p she could have gone large on that meal.  But probably would not have wanted to.
  
Frivolity aside, I don’t think I’m quite ready to join the chorus of the disgust over this. First of all, the report is apparently nine months old - and since receiving this somewhat-damning critique the police say they have worked hard to resolve the issues.  Which is what you’d want, right? 
   
Apparently the Police say:-
“Cambridgeshire Constabulary is confident that any alleged behaviour is unrepresentative and untypical of its 1,400 police officers.”
From my own experience of our local police this sounds right to me.

Hat Tip: Cambs Times for this story.

Posted in March, Police, Cambs Times, Labour Party | 1 Comment »