Richmond Council doesn't like Lynn Barber

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In an article in the Telegraph outlining why"Lynn Barber, the writer and interviewer, has withdrawn from a literary festival after the local council refused to use a publicity photograph which showed her smoking a cigarette", Mrs Rigby noticed that a spokesman for Richmond Council said this :-

As a local authority we are responsible for encouraging good health habits in the area ...

Mrs Rigby thought local councils already had enough to do, what with running car parks, enforcing anti-litter laws, policing rubbish collections and so on, without taking on a job that should be the responsibility of the local health authority.

Or maybe some councils are trying to make themselves look very busy, to explain why they cost so much to run?
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Make your vote count!

Mrs Rigby encourages anybody who may be reading her blog to get down to the Polling Station and vote.

Why?

* Because it is a right, and a responsibility, to do so.

* If you don't put a big X in a box alongside a name, or Political Party, how can you complain about the result?

* Failing to vote could result in the election of somebody, or some political party, you personally detest.

* Failing to vote will mean you will have left it to others to decide, other people who could be bothered to use a few minutes of their time putting an X on a ballot paper. These people may think differently from you, they may have different priorities - would you be happy with their choice of elected representative?

Mrs Rigby firmly believes that her one vote could make all the difference.

Mrs R doesn't see the point in spoiling ballot papers, because once all the votes have been counted one man or woman will end up sitting in a chair, being paid a wage out of public money, and making decisions that affect people's lives. They will, in the case of MEPs, be there for the next five years and none will have been elected by those who spoil their ballot papers.

In Britain it wasn't until 1918 that all men over the age of 21 became eligible to vote and it was another ten years, in 1928, before women were given the same right - that of having a say in the election of MPs and local councillors, which has been extended to the selection of MEPs.

Mrs Rigby thinks that everybody should use their vote wisely. She thinks they should choose an individual and a political party whose manifesto matches what they, personally, hope for. It means taking some time to do a bit of reading, picking at the facts and figures to find out what they mean, but it's worth it in the end.

Voting as your grandparents or parents did, or voting the same as them-next-door, isn't making an informed decision - it's going along with the crowd or being a sheep, and people are not sheep, people are individuals with their own separate needs, wants and aspirations.

So, get out there and vote - before the Polling Station closes at 10:00 pm.

Line painting - Fail

Spotted in the news:-

"A council has admitted workers painted a warning sign outside a nursey school despite it closing 10 years ago.
The yellow zig-zag "school keep clear" sign has been painted in Aberdeen at St Peter's Nursery in The Spital"

You'd think it was a bit careless, wouldn't you? Especially as

"The work - costing about £200 - was carried out despite the building being boarded up."

and

"An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: "Staff have been instructed to check orders for all outstanding works to ensure they are still required."

Outstanding work?

Ten years!

Mrs R shakes her head and mumbles into her coffee.