Fair Deal Phil

Two people died on Lincolnshire roads last night - one of them a pedestrian walking near Crowland.

The collision happened on Whip Chicken Road, just off the B1166, near Crowland, at about 11.25 last night. The body of a man was later found in a nearby ditch.

He is believed to be a 33-year-old local man. The driver of the car was shocked but not injured.

The other fatal accident happened four hours earlier when a car left the A17 Heckington bypass, near Sleaford and hit a tree. The driver, a 47-year-old local man, was died at the scene.

So far 15 people have died on Lincolnshire's roads this year, compared with 28 at the same time last year.

Labels: road safety

Sad to hear news of the death of a colleague on Lincolnshire County Council. I understand that Cllr Mrs Sheila Roy passed away yesterday.

Sheila was elected to Lincolnshire County Council in 1997 for the Conservatives in the Louth Wolds Division.

Sheila chaired the Waste Policy Development Group and was active in promoting tourism and economic development of the Wolds.

She will be missed by the entire Council - as well as by the people of the Wolds who I know she worked hard to represent.

Labels: Lincolnshire County Council, Sheila Roy. Louth Wolds

Tory candidate who failed to unseat Labour's Sally Keeble in Northampton North at the last election earlier announced he would quit - but now he's decided he wants to have another go after all.

Does he have difficulty in making decisions....well, yes and er, no.

Northampton Chronicle&Echo.

Labels: Conservatives, Northampton, Sally Keeble

The Tories who run South Holland District Council have been accused of having 'elevated egos' who make decisions without 'real consultation'.

Wayne Seaborn has resigned from the Tory Group, according to today's Lincs Free Press alleging that being a member of the ruling Conservative group on the council was stifling his ability to represent his electors.

Same old Tories eh?

Labels: Conservatives, Same Old Tories, South Holland District Council

A newly elected Tory councillor has been forced to resign today after his past as a liar and a cheat was exposed by the Daily Mirror.

He took time off his job at Tesco's, claiming he was suffering from testicular cancer. But within days of his election to a council in Hatfield, Herts, it's been revealed that he made the whole story up.

This morning, after the story appeared in the Mirror, he fell on his sword and resigned. No doubt he now feels the pain of a kick in the ballots.

I know where I'd send the bill for the costs of the by-election that will now be needed.

Same Old Tories eh?

UPDATE: The Welwyn and Hatfield Times has now confirmed that Tesco Tory boy has resigned his seat on the council - exactly a week after winning it - and a by-election will be held.

Labels: Daily Mirror, Tescos, Tory sleaze

A speeding farmer has been found guilty of causing the death by dangerous driving of Deepings student Katie Shields.

According to today's Stamford Mercury, the farmer was involved in another fatal road accident some years ago when the Mercedes car he was driving plunged into the River Glen. He survived, but his wife died.

I reported here on the tragedy of Katie's death just over a year ago.

It appears 18-year-old Katie was waiting to turn right into Hop Pole, Deeping St Nicholas, when the car she was driving was hit by the farmer's 4x4
Grand Jeep Cherokee. Experts estimated the 4x4 was being driving at over 70mph in a 50mph area and its high speed had attracted the attention of witnesses before the collision.

Intrigued to learn from last week's Local newspaper that Brynley Heaven who now lives in a village near Bourne worked closely with Ken Livingstone some three decades ago.

Brynley, one-time prolific commenter on this blog, even gets a mention in the latest biography on Ken, which came out during the recent Mayoral campaign...

More recently, Brynley has been an active campaigner against data chips in wheelie bins, which he believe SKDC will inevitably use to collect information on the amount of material we throw away.

Isn't it amazing what you learn in The Local...more HERE.

Labels: Ken Livingstone, SKDC, The Local

'Boris's election campaign was an insult to my intelligence...'

Not my words. Not Ken Livingstone who Boris beat to become Mayor of London last week, but the judgement of former Tory Cabinet Minister and ex-London MP MICHAEL PORTILLO, speaking earlier tonight (Thursday) on BBC One's 'This Week' programme.

It's not the first time in the past few days that Portillo has put the boot into Boris.

On election night, there was little to cheer for Labour activists as the bad news after bad news came in from around the country...

But round about 3am, (yes, i know i'm an anorak!!), I found myself agreeing with Michael Portillo on his assessment of Boris.

He was asked whether he thought Boris had managed to re-launch himself as a serious politician in the Mayoral campaign.

Michael laughed, expressing doubt that Boris would ever be serious...Then, Michael Portillo paid a much warmer tribute to the Tory's bogeyman 'Red' Ken Livingstone, who he described as "a remarkable politician" who had achieved many positive things as Mayor - including introducing the highly popular Oyster travel card.

So as Boris hands out City Hall jobs to his mates, I wouldn't put any money on seeing Michael Portillo in the frame...

Labels: BBC This Week, Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, Michael Portillo

As a born-again biker - and an Army-trained HGV driver - I have no sympathy for the irresponsible trucker who went to jail for seven years today for doing a u-turn while on his mobile phone on the A512 near Loughborough - right into the path of an oncoming motor cyclist who died as a result of his injuries.

BBC East Midlands has a video report HERE.

Labels: BBC East Midlands, mobile phones, trucker, u-turn

Sorry no posts for over a week...Just woke after a terrible dream: Tories win 300 council seats and Boris becomes Mayor of London. OK, more a nightmare than a dream.

Seriously, i was so busy working on the local elections, that my blogging had to take a back seat: I worked in London, and after seeing Ken defeated, I went into hibernation, and managed to get through the holiday weekend refusing to read a single newspaper, or the internet...

But I'm back...hope you are all well.

Clearly a lot to catch up on, so, as they say...

Watch this space...

Labels: Blackpool Labour Party, Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, Tories.

A miracle escape for Lincolnshire motorists this morning as a ten-ton tank rolled off a lorry crushing two cars in Gainsborough - see Lincs Echo.

This is just the latest in a series of similar incidents. I'm sure Lincolnshire Police will fully investigate whether the 'tank' was properly secured and why the accident happened.

In fact, the 'tank' is more likely to have been an armoured personnel carrier, as British tanks weigh in at over 50 tons.

And I've no doubt that had it been a fully-fledged tank, the drivers of the cars it landed on would not have lived to tell their tale...

Labels: Lincolnshire Police, tanks

Great news to see that the number of young people in full-time education or apprenticeships has doubled since Labour started paying students a weekly allowance.

The Tories who control Lincolnshire County Council have done nothing to help young people continue their education. I believe it is outrageous that the Tories have scrapped free transport to schools and colleges for over-16s.

As Opposition spokesperson at LCC, I campaigned - with others - to continue free transport for those staying on at school and others in full time education.

My argument is simple: Lincolnshire has the lowest proportion of young people staying on at school and the least qualified workforce in the country.

It's no coincidence that we are also one of the lowest-pay, lowest-skill economies in the UK.

In my view, improving education chances is the key to changing this - both to benefit individuals, but also to strengthen the economy of Lincolnshire.

But Lincolnshire Tories won't listen. Instead of joining with Labour to encourage more of our young people to stay in full-time education, Lincolnshire Tories insist on snatching back a slice of the Educational Maintainance Allowance generously paid directly paid into their bank account by the Labour Government.

And next year, they intend grabbing an even bigger slice...

Despite the Cameron spin, Lincolnshire Tories haven't changed a bit.

Their Leader David Cameron says it's wrong to split children into sheep and goats through the 11-plus - but refuses to take on his own party.

So the same Lincolnshire Tories who top-slicing the budget of every state school in the county to raise £2 million to send a select few children to private school - - will next year take even more money from students for their travel.

The story of the increase in those staying on is in tonight's Lincolnshire Echo.

Labels: Educational Maintainance Allowance, Labour Government, Lincolnshire County Council, Lincolnshire Tories

Chuffed to see that the flags will fly in Downing Street today to celebrate St George's Day...

Yes, I know that's the Union Flag, I'm flying...it's right that the flag of our nation, the United Kingdom, takes precedence over the flag of St George!

Personally, I prefer the Union Flag, of which the red cross of St George is a part. Sadly, over the past generation, we've allowed the flag of England to be hi-jacked by hard-right extremists.

For too long, it's become a symbol of hate, all too often a associated with trouble, skinheads, football hooligans, thugs and the BNP rather than tolerance and all that is the real Englishness in the 21st Century.

(And if the BNP are supposed to be the British National Party, why is it they associate so closely with the flag of St George and not the British flag?)

Seeing decent people grab back the flag of St George from the nutters who try to steal it for their own ends is both welcome and long overdue...!

I'm proud to be English, proud to be a Brit and proud to be a European.

Well-worth celebrating hope rather than hate.

Labels: BNP, Englishness, St George's Day

Good to see our Russian friends providing Lincolnshire-based aircrews with top-rate counter-terror training.

According to a report in the Lincolnshire Echo(from last week, missed at the time), Russian bombers have been intercepted by Royal Air Force fighters 28 times over the last seven months.

Newly operational Eurofighter Typhoons based at RAF Coningsby in south Lincs are regularly scrambled to shadow Tupolev Tu-95MS Bear-H and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers.

Throughout the Cold War era, regular cat and mouse 'games' tested reactions of both sides.

As a cub reporter on the Lincolnshire Standard in the late 1960s, I well remember the excitement of reporting - as much as we were allowed to know - how Lincolnshire-based RAF aircrews regularly intercepted Soviet bombers trying to nudge British airspace...

Then the fast jets of their day were the English Electric Lightnings - like the one pictured - and they flew from high on the Lincolnshire Wolds at RAF Binbrook between Louth and Grimsby.

It all ended of course in the nineties with the collapse of the Soviet Empire - and today's main threat is not the Cold War hotting up, but terrorism.

RAF Binbrook has long since closed. Today, RAF Coningsby in the south of the county is one of two so-called Quick Reaction Alert bases in the UK with the specific role of preventing hi-jacks.

But the Russian Bear flexing its muscles again unwittingly helps provide excellent training sorties to keep aircrews well practised in their skills...

Labels: Cold War, English Electric Lightning, Eurofighter Typhoon, RAF Binbrook, RAF Coninsgby, Russian Bears, Soviet Empire

A part-time airman based at RAF Wittering near Stamford has become the oldest British serviceman to be killed in war-torn Afghanistan or Iraq.

Before his deployment in February, Senior Aircraftman Gary Thompson, 51, told the Stamford Mercury:

I have five daughters, three of whom are at university. I want women in Afghanistan to be given the same opportunity that my daughters have had.

It means I can come back and say I have played my part in trying to make that happen.

His quote was picked up by tonight's News at Ten (who didn't bother crediting the Mercury) - and the BBC's national site (who did).

His daughters Laurie, 24, Aimee, 22, Jordan, 20, Jade, 17 and Kelly, 16, spoke of their unending love for a man they said was "more than our hero."

Their Dad left his job as a managing director in Nottingham to fight the Taliban. He was killed along with Senior Aircraftman Graham Livingstone - a young Scot also based at Wittering - when their patrol vehicle was blown up on a road close to Kandahar Airfield on Sunday.

Gary Thompson, a member of the RAF Regiment Auxiliary is the fifth TA or reservist personnel to be killed in Afghanistan since the deployment of British forces in 2001.

The Stamford Mercury has invited tributes to the two brave airmen.

Labels: Afghanistan, RAF Regiment, RAF Wittering, Stamford Mercury