Adrian Hollister

Just had the Chimney swept. A nice chap from Sootys in Great Shefford came along and sorted us out. We've had quite a few sweeps over the years, but it's good to find someone that knows what they are doing, provides documentation and is nice to talk to - so thanks to Simon Watkins from Sootys for a great job. If your looking for a chimney sweep in West Berkshire call him on 01488 649028 or on his mobile 07787 416005. Alternatively look on the NACS web site here.

One headline in the Guardians online site today reads "Deputy PM attempts to soothe disgruntled party and holds out prospect of coalition with Labour". What are the grass roots supporters and voters supposed to think? The Liberal Democrats head into the election with a strong centre left agenda - a pro-people stance. People voted on that basis - using the Liberal Democrat vote as a protest vote against New Labour. They were offering a similar agenda to New Labour, with a little more left wing on some things and a little more neutral on others - I''m sure people thought it was a safe leftish vote.

Now as part of their desperation for power they shifted the party to the right, and not just a bit but a whole lot. Gone are the pro-people policies and in are the new pro-business policies. These are the same policies that put this country into strife in the Thatcher years and the same policies that opened our financial institutions to a 'free market' philosophy that ultimately ended in the recent banking crisis.

So where does that put the Liberal Democrats? Could anyone honestly vote for them and know what they are getting? Would people be worried that their vote would be sold out cheaply for a few more moments of glory and power? If I was a Lib Dem voter I would be ashamed and disgusted with it all.

The Liberal Democrats here in Newbury are pleased with the thirst for power at any cost. Their marketing campaigns depict "Can't win here!" with arrows pointing to various parties, perhaps it's not the political parties that can't win here, but democracy itself - sold off by the Tories for some cash and sold off by the Liberal Democrats for a few years of power. This leaves West Berkshire Council populated by the Tories or the Tories (formerly known as the Liberal Democrats). This leaves no opposition and yet more stagnation - not too long though until the next local elections...

The BBC's whole channel coverage of a minority religious leader is a step too far. I don't want to stop anyone supporting their faith, but I don't need the BBC - something I help to pay for - pushing religion down my throat. We are a multi-cultural society. We all have different views and opinions. I hope that we are all aiming towards complete tolerance in our society and in such a society there is no room for state owned broadcasters to force a moral religious views upon us. The recent commentary on the BBC of the Papal visit discussed over and over again how wonderful this one man is, how he represents all things good and how his faith is the cornerstone of society for 'many' people in the UK. If they needed to cover it, they could have done so in a more matter of fact way - there was no need to hype everything up, create celebrity and certainly no need to over indulge such a minority figure.

There are many other faith groups out there and many other religions - none of which seem to get the same 'how wonderful this is' approach by the BBC. In just one example, the Dalai Lama visited the UK in 2008 - there were a few news events but mostly covering the 'free Tibet' message. No whole TV channels blocked out to it, not 24x7 news coverage, no news reporters buying their stairway.

I think it is about time that either the BBC drop coverage (other than news items) of religious events; or they dedicate a channel to the subject (at least then people could choose to watch or not watch it).

OK rant over. For more see Paul Owens blog.

The article in last weeks Newbury Weekly News discusses the problem with the parking at Vodafone in Newbury. Essentially all contractors have been asked to park away from the main site and catch a bus. Vodafone's response to the problem is an obvious and typical corporate response - we will put on more buses between the sites.

Vodafone could consider a different approach:

1. Favour local resources that have access to the bus services offered by Vodafone - local jobs for local people. Put this in their contract terms to all firms supplying contract workers and take away the additional parking spaces.

2. Promote home working - this improves quality of life. If 1 in 3 people at Vodafone requiring a parking space worked at home the problem would go away.

3. Move the offices from a road/car dependant location to one easily served by buses and trains (oh hang on - they have just done the opposite of this :S)


Of course, there is still the question of these massive numbers of Vodafone buses running around mostly empty. Perhaps Vodafone can consider allowing people to travel in them free along the routes they travel? This could save off-set an enormous number of cars between Thatcham, Newbury and surrounding areas; and would be an enormous give back from Vodafone to the community of Newbury and West Berkshire.