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I realise that this has little or no relevance to Wisbech, but someone may read it, and If they are affected by my words, then they will not have been entirely wasted.

Margaret Thatcher has died at the age of 87. A frail and lonely figure , plagued by dementia, and isolated by the death of her husband, she cut a sorry figure in recent years. Her death has divided the nation as successfully as it did during her eleven years of office. The usual Wisbech suspects have been tweeting their hearts out in her praises. As well they might, despite the fact that they were either babes in arms or schoolchildren when she was in power. That is an insignificant barrier. The wonderful irony of party politics is that it is totally Orwellian. 'Two legs' is good. 'Four legs' is bad. And this applies to ends of the spectrum, Left and Right.

Let me state my credentials to comment on her passing. During Mrs Thatcher's reign, I was a young taxpayer, husband and father, trying to make an honest living. I was Mrs Thatcher's nightmare - educated and hopefully enlightened, but working in the public services. Which had rules. And regulations. And codes of conduct. For some reason yet undiscovered by historians or psychologists, Margaret Thatcher was obsessed with the destruction of codes of conduct. Of responsibility for others. Of concern for the 'little guy'.

She was gifted with cartoon opponents. President Galtieri of Argentina was a pathetic and opportunist general whose lamp faded as quickly as it flared into life. Michael Foot, and Neil Kinnock were well-meaning but inconsequential Labour party leaders. It would be an exaggeration to say that she had them for breakfast. It was more that they were a dusty tube of sweets at the bottom of her handbag, which she occasionally snacked on.

She was destroyed by her own party. She never lost an election. Politicians are only loyal when they feel their own seats are safe. If they feel threatened, then they lash out, turn nasty, and seek scapegoats and alternatives. It is safe to say that I would trust a party politician no further than I would be able to throw a concert grand piano. Your trust in them may last the hour, but don't put your mortgage on it.

So, an elderly lady is lionised and vilified. She made Britain 'great' again. She' destroyed my community.' But she is dead. After years of life with a carer and a rather bored attendant police officer, a stroke has consigned her to the classification of being a late Prime Minister. My message to the haters is simple. Let her go. She is gone. God bless her. Whatever good or evil she wrought in her lifetime has long since passed. If your only words are full of venom, then please hold your tongue.
 

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IT MAY BE THAT THE TOXIC COCKTAIL THAT IS WISBECH PARTY POLITICS is no more poisonous and vile than anywhere else in the land. I would only say that there are two full months to go before the County Council elections, and if our would-be representatives carry on at this rate, they will need to follow the hapless Gazza to his American rehab centre. This cartoon is from a bygone age but, with a little embellishment from myself, just about sums things up.  

WISBECH PARTY POLITICS

 I WAS SADDENED TO READ that our town Post Office may be on its last legs. But every cloud has a silver lining. One of the acquired skills in my late and unlamented management career was an ability to talk fluent bull***t. Thus, nasty things were not challenges, they were OPPORTUNITIES! So, as we speak, and as the sheets of stamps and tax discs, and bundles of currency are being boxed up to be traded from a Portacabin somewhere out the back of QD, we must rejoice that the shelves, chiller cabinets and vegetable racks for yet another 24/7 convenience store and off-licence are being assembled. No doubt one or two of our finest dignitaries will be penning their supportive speeches for the day when the licence application comes before the district committee. And while our Cambridgeshire coppers bang their heads against the nearest brick wall about this lunacy, we can be thankful that the signs - promised to us by the visionaries at Wisbech 20/20, have finally arrived. They will leave the visitor to our fair town in no doubt what kind of cultural experience awaits them.

 

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FURTHER MUSINGS ON SPRING, SNOWDROPS AND EMERGING BLOOMS. Despite yesterday's ravings, I want to reiterate something I said in an earlier post. It is utterly pointless to blame local politicians for the failings of a succession of national governments. Yes, I said it. Don't blame town, district or county councillors for the immigration mess. They are here to serve us, they will tell us, on local issues . BUT - and this is a skyscraper of a BUT which will loom over all the other tower blocks in Butville. The May election will not be about purely local issues, regrettable though that may be. It will be about frustration. It will be about people feeling hurt and bewildered that they are not being listened to. It will be about lashing out. It will be about sending a message. And it will not be a pretty message in a scented envelope. 

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We have had a few spring-like days, and along with the snowdrops, certain other species are pushing their heads up towards the sunlight. No, not daffodils, not just yet. I'm talking about an even more fragile and threatened variety - local politicians (electus incompetens) You might question the unseasonal appearance of these delicate and rarely seen blooms - but had it escaped your attention that on May 2nd, 2013, there will be elections for Cambridgeshire County Council?

And so the gloves are already off, certainly in terms of political cliches. Battle lines are being drawn, the electorate is to be consulted, favours are being called in, positions are due to be clarified, canvassing is amazingly encouraging…Are you still awake? Yes? Well, there is much more to come. No promise will be left un-made, no vitriolic dart in the direction of the opposition will be left un-thrown. No badly-spelled slur or counter-slur will be left un-posted on Facebook, and no Tweet will be un-retweeted.

Saturday saw an impressive display of handbag swinging over the right to campaign in Wisbech Market Place. In the yellow and purple corner was a redoubtable lady from UKIP, who is determined to deliver Wiz from the clutches of the evil migrants, and in the blue corner were two feisty dames of the Conservative persuasion who were prepared to lay down their lives for….erm….hang on….. give me a second ….ah yes!…for the right to have everything stay absolutely the same, with no-one breaking cover or suggesting anything remotely resembling change. There was even a territorial dispute about who could sit on which bench, and who could speak to who, and anyway, it's OUR Market Place, so push off…! Immensely edifying, and a tribute to the timeless legacy of political debating skills. No, actually, forget that last bit. It was more like something off Little Britain. The most treasured remark from one of these Tory ladies was regarding the derelict buildings of Wisbech. "Oh, they'll sort themselves out," she said. Of course they will. Why didn't I think of that?

A planned march to protest against immigration is not due until after the May elections. So what's the point of that? Not a lot, really. It will only serve to infect open wounds. No one in their right mind welcomes another unchecked wave of migration from Europe's answer to the Third World - Romania and Bulgaria. But what's to be done? Cameron's pathetic speech earlier this month was less a throwing down of the gauntlet, than an elderly lady forgetfully dropping her lace glove. A huge political conundrum opens up. Vote Labour or Liberal Democrat, and very soon all border controls will be relinquished, and we will actually be offering grants to folk from Papua New Guinea, North Korea and Iran to come and  colonise our high streets and doctors' waiting rooms. Vote UKIP, and you will probably split the right wing vote enough to let in the Labour Party. Vote Conservative and…mmm ….just let me check…Got it! Nothing very much will happen, rich people will get immeasurably richer, and the deserving poor will be put in laundries to wash and iron the toff's shirts. AND our membership of the EU will go unchanged, because we don't have migrants in Whitney, thank you very much!

So what to do? Pickwick offers no solution, no panacea, no easy fix. A sudden death…? Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease…? A private health-care lobotomy? An undetected meteorite striking PE13 with massive casualties? A misdirected North Korean nuclear test missile? Who knows. All of these may be favourable alternatives to the shabby individuals who will be scratching at your doorstep pleading for your vote over the coming weeks and months.

A final request. Do not vote for, talk to, shake hands with, or fart in the general direction of ANYONE who does not use capital letters appropriately, cannot spell, or is confused over the correct use of 'their', 'there', 'its', 'it's', 'of', 'have' and other things people should have learned by the age of eight.

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WISBECH HAS BEEN STRUCK BY TWO TRAGEDIES in less than a week. An elderly woman, Una Crown, was brutally stabbed at her home in Magazine Lane, and then set on fire, presumably in at attempt to conceal the crime. As I write, the police are working to solve what appears, on the surface at least, a vile crime without motive.
Then, while residents were reeling from the Magazine Lane murder, Saturday morning saw a massive police presence outside the Hare and Hounds on North Brink, a popular drinking spot known to most locals as 'The Dog'. We knew that a woman had died and there were early suggestions that her death might be drink or drug related. By Monday, it was revealed that the dead woman was Virginja Jurkiene, 49, of Oakroyd Crescent, Wisbech. Dainotas Doblys, 48, has been arrested and charged with murder, and two counts of rape. Virginja had a history of alcoholism, and an abusive father and husband. A colleague at the Rosmini Centre described how she had been at the centre just the previous week, and staff had tried to help her with various issues.
As the dreadful story played out over the social media, there were some frankly shameful comments along the lines of, "well, thank goodness it wasn't a local woman," and "this was a lovely little town before the immigrants got here."
There were calls for an anti-immigrant march, along the lines of one recently held in Boston, and another planned in Spalding. The barbed and witless comments continued to fly on Facebook. There was then a telling and courageous intervention from someone whose views and approach I have not always shared. Samantha Hoy weighed in on Twitter with

 "I am a Eurosceptic but please do not blame immigrants for governments allowing them to be here, they just want a better life."

As much compassion and common sense as one will ever read on Twitter, I believe. She continued to fight her corner against the bigots on a Facebook thread. Later in the evening, Steve Tierney - someone else with whom I rarely see eye-to-eye - took up the cudgel on behalf of reason and decency. Both of them should be commended for fighting their (unpopular, but totally correct and decent) corner.

As I have said before on this blog, it is utterly pointless to blame local politicians for the 'immigration problem'. The terms of the current EU treaty allow anyone from member states completely free access to otter countries in the union. In January 2014, it will all get worse, as residents of two of the most disfunctional and economically bankrupt countries in Europe - Bulgaria and Romania - will have unhindered access to Britain. Someone posted earlier - and I have not checked this out - that the average monthly income in Romania is well below a month's Jobseeker's Allowance in the UK.

MIGRANT LABOUR is nothing new. Neither is the exploitation of vulnerable groups of people. As a volunteer at the Rosmini Centre, I see the dark side. The migrant as victim, not villain. Sadly, the villains are more than likely not to be swarthy cartoon gangsters from Albania, but urbane and well-educated British citizens. In no particular order, then, my list of culprits.
(1) The chain of exploitation from rich farmers to unscrupulous gangmasters. The result is often that migrants are working for well below minimum wage. They may have to surrender their passports just to get work.
(2) Shadowy UK property owners and landlords who turn a blind eye to their rooms and houses being sub-let. They are putting up a vigorous resistance to a move to have ALL UK landlords checked and registered.
(3) The mindless Europhiles of all political parties who cannot comprehend the stresses and strains that unfettered immigration from the EU imposes on fragile local economies.
(4) The local planning and licensing authorities who relentlessly and recklessly grant drink licenses to corner shop after corner shop, in the full knowledge that street drinking of cheap liquor  by unemployed and hapless Eastern Europeans is a constant thorn in the side of those who are working hard to make our town centres friendly and safe places to visit and shop.
(5) The moronic collection of ex-skinheads and football supporters who make up the far-right 'political parties'. Do they really think that their sloganising and violence will have the slightest effect on anything, anywhere? And I have to include their diametric opposites, that feckless collective of failed beards and muddled idealism which typifies the far-left.


ALL GOOD MUSIC-HALL ACTS SHOULD FINISH WITH A SONG. And there is mine, but 'Give Me Sunshine' it is not. It is by Woody Guthrie, and refers to a plane crash in 1948, when a plane bearing migrant Mexican workers crashed in Los Gatos Canyon. The dead workers were never named in the press - they were just called 'deportees'. Virginja Jurkiene was not a deportee, neither was she a victim of the state. Two facts link her to the dead of Los Gatos. Firstly she was referred to as 'just another migrant'. Secondly, she was attracted to a foreign land by the idea that she could find a pot of gold at the end of a mythical rainbow.

 

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PICKWICK'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE

All public figures, whether they are reviled or held in reverence, seem to think the world's collective breath is held until they go public with a New Year Message. So, why should I be different? Here goes. "Ignore the alarm. Pull the duvet up over your head. Pray for January to pass." T.S. Elliot wrote, "April is the cruellest month." But he didn't live in Wisbech, or if he did, he kept very quiet about it.

DISTRICT COUNCIL ELECTION

Well, we have an election on January 17th. The FDC seat for Hill Ward is vacant, following the death of much-respected local man, Bruce Wegg. Crossing swords are:

SAMANTHA HOY (Con) Sam is an engaging character who works hard for the town. Some might wonder why she wants to be a 'triple-hatter', that is, someone who holds office at Town, District and County level, but that is her business. Her great strength is that she will admit when she is wrong, and the words,"fair point" come easily to her, unlike certain other local demigods for whom such an admission comes as easy as pulling out their own teeth with a mole wrench.

DEAN REEVES (Lab) Dean is an ebullient and tough fellow, who says he is 'a civil servant'. If that conjures up someone who sits in an office and pushes paper, then think again. Dean works at 'the sharp end'. I will not elaborate, but he does a job which puts him face to face with some of society's most intractable problem areas. Dean is a committed family man who would be a much needed 'fresh face' in local politics.

JOHN WHITE (Ind) I know very little about John, except that he is Wisbech 'through and through'. I met him briefly when we were setting up the 'WIN' project (of which more later) and he struck me as very 'old school', as straight as a die, and someone who scorns the local party bitching, and just wants the very best for the town he loves.

OH, YES….I am not ignoring the fact that Bruce Wegg's death also left a vacancy on Wisbech Town Council. You will forgive me if I do not waste column inches on that particular witches' brew. I don't know the full details of why Erbie Murat was suspended as Town Clerk, but a local paper suggests that it was as a result of "personality clashes" between himself and someone who purports to be something called "The Beadle". I worked for forty years in large organisations. I had "personality clashes" every now and again, but we were professionals. The job came first, and we got on with it, and good management meant that anyone who forget that simple mantra didn't last too long. So, if you want to be a member of Wisbech Town Council, then best of luck to you. But don't expect local people to take you seriously.

WE LIVE IN HARD TIMES. Hard times usually require hard measures in response. 2013 sees the establishment of a Food Bank, to help the destitute and hungry in the town. Concerned local people are setting up a Credit Union to try to combat the disgusting rise of Payday Loan firms, which prey on the vulnerable, but are much admired by certain local politicians. Now we have another volunteer organisation, which tries to help those from a business and professional background who have learnt the hard way, that we are NOT 'all in this together'. This press release has been provided by my colleague, Mike Stannard.

Business and Professional Job Club.

When you lose a professional or a business position, you begin the fall. How far are you prepared to go? Have you thought about this, or are you just tumbling out of control, hoping for the best?
Recession is a hard time to find work. There are lots of very attractive people out there and the ones in work always seem to get there first.
Everyone who has been let go has a tale to tell, and, more important, everyone has dreams to fulfil.
Being unemployed places enormous stress on families.
Mortgage, car, holiday, food, tax: bills, come in whether you are in work or not.

We want to hear from you!

We can offer other people in the same boat. And we can listen carefully.
As you try and reboot, we can offer the support of a Wisbech organisation which is well respected and which can network brilliantly and give you that vital recommendation (if you are worth it).
As a business or professional person, you might like to get back into your previous sort of employment, or you might like to branch out a bit. You may still have dreams.
You won't fulfil those dreams by yourself: you need other people to network with. And meeting other people in the same situation can be very helpful.
Business and professional people only.

Wednesdays, Rosmini Centre, Queen's Road, Wisbech, 10-12 noon

 

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AS THE OLD YEAR DIES, here is Pickwick's Almanac for 2013.
JANUARY: History is made as WOD Mod triumphs in FDC by-election. She reprises Thatcher's 1979 'St Francis of Assisi' speech on the steps of No 10 (Cafe)
FEBRUARY: Fenland newspaper editor ignores verified appearance of Jesus in Emneth, catastrophic earthquake in Walsoken, and 70+ virgin births in Leverington, for latest 'Supermarketgate' rumours.
MARCH: Latest version of scorching erotic best-seller is renamed 'Twenty Five Shades of Tholomas Drove' due to savage budget cuts.
APRIL: Jesus forgives local editor, and establishes office in Nene Parade. Wisbech Standard still leads with rumours about Whittlesey corner shop.
MAY: The civilised world applauds FDC's commitment to Libertarian thinking, as Wisbech Cat Refuge is awarded 24/7 booze license.
JUNE: Filming of 'Five Shades of Friday Bridge" moved from Dogging Park to New Bell Yard after FDC imposes 475% tax on all creative activity.
JULY: Evisons granted booze license by FDC. Crowds flock to buy bottles of 'Double Diamond' and pints of  Watney's 'Red Barrel'
AUGUST: Cambs County Council caves in to pressure from WIN activists, and, overnight, installs dual carriageway along Tinkers Drove, between Lynn Road and St Michael's Avenue.
SEPTEMBER: After £4 million grant, derelict shopfronts on High Street are repainted to resemble a Lithuanian market. " A triumph for our commitment to the EU", says Tory spokesperson.
OCTOBER: Wisbech 20/20 Vision applies for free eye-test at Specsavers. Gets free frames and milk-bottle lenses.
NOVEMBER: The sexual blockbuster, 'One Shade Of Ollard Avenue' is finally screened at Three Holes Village Hall. after a delay due to the search for an adaptor for a round-pin plug.
DECEMBER: After snap local elections, all local councillors returned safely to office with average 312% majorities, after record 17% turnout.