What I didn’t like about the councils sexy booklet was the way they publish broad stroke sums but give no detail. For example  Children’s & Young people’s Services account for almost half of the budget.  Does this include education?  Does it include cost of schools/refurbishment etc.?  Who knows!   They include a massive £13m for housing yet they sold off all the council houses years ago so why do they need to spend £13m every year? If you were asked what the main services you require from the council what would they be?  Can you tell us!

Do you remember when the Conservatives were in opposition making loads of promises to voters. They would free up the bus lane in Welling. They did. They would look carefully at the traffic problems in Sidcup, the gated roads etc. Here we are two years later and still nothing has been done...was it promises, promises?

When we went to Tenerife in March we were never held up in a traffic jam and do you know apart from the odd traffic calming roundabout we saw no traffic lights on the island which has a far higher population of cars than Sidcup.  Perhaps we ought to by-pass the council and take some of the people from TfL out there to see for themselves how well the traffic runs without the aid of lights.

A male Sidcup resident called the newsdesk demanding to know what we knew about the religious sounding Cathedral Group who want to rip down Athena House beside Sidcup Station and build a couple of blocks of flats etc.  I told him we published a front cover story about the suggested development last December. “I didn’t see it” he said “I work in London, what’s going on”?   We explained they had just applied for permission to build and anyone remotely affected by the development would hear from the planning department so they could register their objections. He confirmed such a letter had been received.  But what amazed me was that here we had a resident of twenty five years who can’t be bothered to read a local paper living in his own little world caring not a hoot what was going on in his town. And I wouldn’t mind betting he’s one of the 50% who doesn’t bother to vote at the local elections either. There seem to be so many like him.  Why do we bother!

Writing about politics I was having a drink the other day with a couple of mates and one of them said “Why are the Scots in charge?”.  What do you mean I asked.  Blair and his cronies. Why are the Scots so good at managing us Brits? To be honest I hadn’t given it a thought. Someone else asked why the head of the police force had to be a ‘Sir’!  And how did they earn this honour?  I don’t know. Can someone tell me?

The early summer weather has done wonders for the blossom this year and few readers can have failed to have noticed its abundance and beauty everywhere throughout our garden borough.  Unlike many residents who have paved their gardens I have been able to grow flowers and the present display of wallflowers is rewarding for the work I put in during the Autumn. I took a look at the devastation in the Meadows where the council have hacked away trees around the old mansion house leaving it looking like a tank park.  On behalf of all the wildlife you have destroyed thanks.  I didn’t like all the razor wire surrounding the stable block development which seems to have enveloped the old car park I understood was to be returned to the public!