Taking Out The Trash

Out of the loop

Channel 4's Can't Read, Can't Write follows an adult literacy class as their teacher tries to get them to learn basic reading and writing skills. It's inspirational TV but also jaw-dropping that people in their 50s have got through life unable to spell their own child's name or read a shopping list.
According to the National Literacy Trust 1.1m people aged 16-65 are at or below Entry Level 1 - the most basic competence level. A further four million people in this age range have a literacy level comparable to an 11-year-old.

You can read the rest of my latest post on the Total Politics site here

Rural housing

My latest post is up on the Total Politics site

I was quite excited when the clerk dropped by the house to tell me there was an emergency meeting tonight.

Had another councillor resigned? (The last one went with a very stroppy letter which said that, apart from a few exceptions, we were all “bovine”. We’re not sure who were cows and who not.)

Actually the meeting it is to formally approve a section 106 agreement with the district council for our plans to convert part of our parish rooms into flats.

You can read the full post here.

That bloke next to Hazel

My first post is up on the Total Politics local government blog

Without consultation or negotiation First Group decided to axe the Colerne's only daily bus service.

With just 90 days notice, hundreds of people who relied on the 228 to get to work or shop faced being stranded. Bath may be only 20 minutes drive away but, stuck on top of a steep hill with only a fast and twisting road to connect us, it might as well have been 500 miles away.

You can read the rest here

Breaks duck

Just posted my first blog on to the Total Politics local government site and it's waiting approval. I must have written thousands and thousands of articles but the first time you file for someone new it's always really nerve wracking.
The feeling is second only to when it actually gets published and then the phone goes and you hold the receiver at arm's length and think about pretending to be the cleaner. It could be worse and be like this or this or this