Bourne Diary - July 2001

Saturday 7^th July 2001

The buzzard (Buteo buteo) is one of the largest of our birds of prey, broad-winged and broad-tailed and a variable brown and white in colour. It sails through the sky with slow flaps of its wings, giving out a plaintive "peeiou" cry and looking so effortless in flight as to appear almost lazy, but appearances are deceptive and when in search of prey, which may be as small as a beetle, although they also eat mice, voles and small rabbits, it will pounce as soon as its sharp eyes spot a victim.

Buzzards were persecuted almost to extinction in the 19th century and they retreated to northern and western Britain where they were could be found in various habitats including woods, moorland, mountains, sea cliffs and farmland. By the early 20th century, they were moving eastwards with their numbers increasing until 1953 when myxomatosis decimated the rabbit population and so they lost an important source of food. By the 1970s and 1980s, they suddenly began to colonise areas where they had not been seen for many years and now a pair is breeding in Bourne Woods where it was a rare sight five years ago to even see buzzards in flight.

The last recorded breeding of buzzards in this area was 1880 and the Forestry Commission feel that their woodland management strategy has contributed to their choice of the woods as a nesting site. The buzzard chicks should be fledged within the next few weeks and by the end of August, they will fly off to establish their own territories but conservationists are hoping that their presence this summer is an indication that their return to South Lincolnshire will be permanent.

I was sitting on my patio at lunchtime on Sunday when a sparrow flew over and perched on my arm. This was an unusual incident because these small birds are quite wary about human beings and usually take flight whenever we approach yet here was one seeking me out. Blackbirds are far more friendly and I remember my wife rescuing one from the lawn after it had knocked itself out by flying into the window and she fed it bread and milk until it recovered. Later that summer, after its eggs had hatched, it brought four fledglings up to the back door where they came often for weeks afterwards. My mother never believed the tale when I told her but one afternoon when she came for tea on the patio, I whistled to them and they all came strutting up to the table for morsels of cake and she was so utterly astounded that she bored her friends with the story for months afterwards.

We have a pheasant nicknamed George that has been visiting us for the past two years and it waits in the garden until seed has been scattered and after it has eaten it finds a comfortable place for a snooze, totally unconcerned about our presence. Then one evening this week, a squirrel dropped by but decided not to stay and scampered off when it saw us but I have an idea that it will be back. Such friendships are not rare but they are not common and they indicate that our birds and animals regard humans with some suspicion and rightly so in view of the way we have treated them in past times. It is not so in many other parts of the world, the Scilly Islands for instance, where birds frequently sit on the tables outside inns and cafes and will actually take morsels from your hand. I have had similar experiences in Bermuda while visitors to the remote Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean are immediately struck by the apparent docility of all wildlife, both birds and beasts, which show no fear of man whatsoever.

It is this last example that demonstrates the reason for this reticence by our native birds to trust us more than they do. The fifteen islands of the Galapagos group are one vast nature reserve and their unique fauna, that includes giant tortoises, iguanas, penguins, flightless cormorants and Darwin's finches, have been relatively free from the influences of the outside world and even now the number of visitors allowed in is strictly controlled by the government of Ecuador. These animals and birds then have had less contact with man and this is undoubtedly the reason why they show little fear. If we in Britain could wipe out the heinous crimes we have committed against our wildlife over the centuries, perhaps more sparrows, and even thrushes, greenfinches, robins and wrens, might have the confidence to join us at the lunch table as well as the squirrel, our latest visitor.

A brief life of the Australian author Frederic Manning who lived in Bourne for long periods was added to the web site last month (See Bourne Focus) when I related how in his final weeks, suffering from a debilitating illness, he was taken to a London nursing home by Dr John Galletly, who was his medical advisor, and where he died in 1935. By chance, I have been loaned a tape recording of Dr Galletly reminiscing about his life that he made twenty years ago. Dr John Alexander Galletly (1899-1993), also known as Alistair, was a family doctor in Bourne for most of the 20th century and his surgery was attached to his home in North Road, now the Galletly Group Practice. He was commissioned in the Lincolnshire Regiment during the First World War and was wounded in the knee by an enemy bullet while serving in France. After the war, he studied medicine at Queen's College, Cambridge, and the Middlesex Teaching Hospital in London, before joining his father at the family practice in Bourne. He also became a member of the Bourne Urban District Council, as both his parents were before him, and he was elected its chairman from 1961-62.

Dr Galletly had vivid memories of his life as a doctor before the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 and during his retirement, he was a frequent contributor to the letters columns of newspapers and magazines. The tape recording was made in 1982 by my neighbour Jim Jones of the Bourne Civic Society and I have compiled an item for the web site under the title of A Country Practice that is added today to Memories of Times Past. For anyone who has ever complained about the National Health Service, this is required reading.

The Bourne Forum continues to provide a platform for those with something valid to say and this feature is now well ahead of all our local newspapers when it comes to the discussion of controversial issues. One of the noticeable losses from these publications that purport to cover our affairs is the lack of comment or editorial, something that was of paramount importance during my days as a weekly newspaper journalist during the last century when the editorial column was required reading for all members of the local council, the chamber of trade and other organisations, and invariably dictated their future policy because this was the voice of the people.

But today, not one of our local newspapers has the courage to comment on those issues that have a direct bearing on the lives of their readers and the reason is not hard to find because they pay lip service to those who advertise and will not risk an adverse opinion for fear of losing their revenue. This reversal of policy that gives importance to advertising over editorial content has in some cases reached a sinister level in which those who buy space can use the influence of their revenue to control what goes into the newspapers, the perfect illustration of the old adage that money talks, but this is a most deplorable development that strikes at the very heart of free speech and democracy. The Bourne web site carries no paid advertising and therefore has no such commitments and will continue to speak out whenever there are things that need to be said.

It is always pleasing to help pupils with their studies and the latest request for assistance comes from across the Atlantic. Children attending the elementary school at Edgerton in Wisconsin, a state in the north central part of the United States, will soon be seeing our countryside as part of their lessons in ecology and biomes after their teacher emailed to ask permission to use some of our photographs. Wisconsin, once a British possession, is America's premier dairying state that produced such famous people as Harry Houdini, Spencer Tracy and Orson Welles and Edgerton is a small town midway between Madison and Janesville.

Colleen Pardun is setting up an educational web site for her students that will give them a glimpse of the landscape in other parts of the world and she was most impressed by what she saw of our locality, including my pictures of Bourne Wood. "I am particularly interested in the photograph of a path through the forest", she said. "I would like to use this image because it really encompasses living in such an environment. I think it important for my students here in Wisconsin to see these awe-inspiring pictures to help broaden their horizons."

Last week, I mentioned the rotten strawberries that had been sold to us by one of the greengrocers in Bourne for £1.35 and I urged shoppers to buy their summer fruit from the lay-by salesmen or even direct from the farm gate. On Saturday, we bought a bunch of flowers from the market for £1.50 and were equally disappointed because they died next day. In both cases, our purchase was tantamount to throwing our money down the drain. Those who sell such products are sufficiently experienced to know their fruit and flowers and we therefore expect better. We are regular shoppers at both the Thursday and the Saturday markets because the produce is usually good while the prices are a welcome relief to those charged by the supermarkets and we must therefore assume that this particular purchase was a case of poor quality control. Our traders are frequently urging us to shop in Bourne to stimulate the local economy and it would be a sad day if we had to go elsewhere because they could not provide value for money.

Finally, a word about the technicalities of this web site that are the responsibility of our Webmaster, Dr Justin Needle, who happens to be my son. This past fortnight has been a busy one because of many changes, some forced upon us and others that he has insisted on making to improve the appearance and maintenance of the site, but all have been completed with a quiet efficiency at his home in London 100 miles away. He is justifiably proud of this web site that has become a model for others around the world and much of this is due entirely to his expertise and diligence.

Thought for the Week: "The Ministry of Agriculture's behaviour during the foot and mouth epidemic has been beyond belief, or would have been had we not have seen it happening all round us. The sheer carelessness and chaos, the lies and secrecy, the colossal and continual mistakes, the stupendous waste of public money, and the thoughtlessness, not to mention the cruelty involved in the mass slaughter, most of which was needless and senseless. In order to slaughter healthy herds and flocks, the ministry has used all manner of methods to coerce farmers, methods which I never thought would ever be used in Britain." - from Country Diary in The Countryman magazine, July 2001.

Saturday 14^th July 2001

The former cabinet minister is the most senior politician to come out in favour of legalising the drug although the previous Cabinet Office Minister Mo Mowlam has called for it to be decriminalised. Mr Lilley said: "We are forcing cannabis users into the arms of hard drug pushers. It is that link I wish to break." Under Mr Lilley's proposals, magistrates could licence outlets selling cannabis to the over-18s. There would be limits on the amount sold and the drug would be taxed and carry a health warning. Cultivation for personal use would be permitted.

The misuse of drugs was a lively topic of discussion in the Bourne Forum last autumn and although many may think that this is a subject that does not affect a small market town such as ours, the evidence proved the contrary and that illegal substances are freely available. The most moving contribution came from a young man in his late twenties who was a confessed addict, a user for the past ten years who said that most of his friends also took drugs, and although he had been unable to give up the habit that was ruining his life, he was most anxious to warn young people of the dangers. He wrote his contribution anonymously in order not to incriminate himself but I knew his identity and to maintain this confidentiality, we will simply call him John. He wrote:

I was arrested at the age of 21 for possessing ecstasy and speed (amphetamine sulphate) and because of the way Bourne people are, I was labelled as a druggie, a junkie and even a dealer, which is something I have never done. The list of drugs available here in Bourne is frightening and although I have not taken all of them, many of my friends have:

Alcohol is top of the list and by far the worst.
Heroin, also called smack and brown horse.
Cocaine, also called sniff, coke, bugle, Charlie and snow.
Amphetamine sulphate, also known as speed, Billy and whiz.
LSD, also known as acid, trips, and tabs.
Ecstasy, also known as E, pills, and fellas.
Cannabis, also known as pot, draw, ganga, skunk, and weed.

Some people think it will never happen to them or their children. I used to be one of those people who said they would never take them but the reason I did was that it was something new and exciting and there was nothing very much to do in Bourne anyway. I also came from a broken home which I also blame on the problem for this gave me a sense of belonging and those I associated with became my new family. Be warned. It can happen to anyone, from any walk of life, young or old, rich or poor. I have seen friends loose everything because of this dangerous habit, relationships, houses, money and even their sanity. Two of my friends ended up in a resources centre due to the abuse of some of the above named drugs. They also cause people to lie and deceive their friends, family and loved ones. I could give many more examples but the main thing to remember is that you don't realise that you have a problem until it is too late.

John later left Bourne to start a new life elsewhere in Britain. He decided that a clean break from his present environment, away from the friends he had made and who were still taking drugs, was his only chance of kicking the habit. There were many other similar messages from drug users, past and present, posted on the Forum during this discussion and it became obvious that drugs are very much a way of life for many people in Bourne, despite its outward appearance as a quiet market town where not very much happens.

There are few subjects that inspire so much emotion as this and while many fear that the legalisation of cannabis will persuade users to start experimenting with harder drugs, there are others who feel that the time has come for a more liberal attitude from society and that the law should be relaxed. I have decided therefore to test reaction here in Bourne and so this week's question on our front-page poll is: Should cannabis be legalised in Britain? Please cast your vote because in view of the importance of this subject, I am hoping for the highest ever turnout since this feature began in May.

New houses are not exactly in short supply in Bourne and the numbers of For Sale notices that can be seen around the town are proof that plenty are currently available for buyers. Yet the planning and building to provide even more continues unabated. Small developments are underway at several locations around the town and these are to be welcomed because they keep pace with a slow and desirable population increase and at the same time remove eyesore sites that might otherwise blight the locality. But work has just started on the Elsea Park estate south of the town where there will eventually be 2,000 new homes but even before the first one has been finished, we hear that another 135 are planned for the old nursery site off Exeter Street and a further 100 on meadowland off the Spalding Road. One local newspaper has described these developments in a front page headline as a "New homes bonanza" but this is a grave misuse of the English language and had the sub-editor who wrote it checked with the Oxford English Dictionary, he would have discovered that a bonanza is a sudden and unexpected source of luck or wealth which, for the people of this town, these new houses certainly are not.

We must be forgiven for asking not only whether Bourne needs new houses on such a large scale but also who will buy them and, more importantly, can a small market town support such a massive influx of people? The present public services certainly cannot cope because our schools are full and the roads crammed with cars and yet the developers continue to push forward plans to build even more residential estates. There is also much talk of planning gains with big developments such as Elsea Park but property developers will not part with a penny until they have already sold a large number of houses whereas the practice usually followed by local councillors is to get the houses first and the services afterwards but this is a cart and horse policy and not a single brick should be laid on multi-house developments until some of the infrastructure is in place or at least in the pipeline.

Several town councillors have already expressed concern about the extra traffic that will be generated by the proposed 135-house Exeter Street estate at sensitive places in our road system and although modest figures have been produced by the developers, morning and evening peaks limited to just 120 vehicle movements for instance, a look at the existing recently built estates around the town will reveal that most houses have two cars and many three and even four and so this estimate could be wildly inaccurate. A more relevant statistic would be how many children will be living here because our schools are at bursting point and the Robert Manning Technical College, the largest school in Bourne, is about to enrol a further 60 pupils for the autumn term, bringing the total number of children attending the school to over 1,100, the highest figure on record. Our car parks are packed at peak shopping periods and all of our hospitals have closed and although our two health clinics are providing a first class medical service for the community, booking an appointment to see the doctor invariably involves a waiting time of varying length which will increase as the number of patients on the registers grows.

It is these issues that our councillors should be addressing rather than nodding through every housing development that lands on their table. Some do occasionally make suitable noises of objection and often there is a short delay, but the outcome is usually cut and dried, as with the Elsea Park development, and we will suddenly find ourselves trying to cope with a population increase when the town is totally unprepared for it.

There is another depressing aspect to the Exeter Street development on a site that is currently derelict because while it has been lying idle, it has become a veritable haven for wildlife. An unbelievably wide variety of animals has been seen here over the past five years, including foxes, hedgehogs, voles, mice, shrews, badgers, squirrels, frogs, toads, newts and bats as well as many bird such as thrushes, wrens, kestrels, tawny and barn owls and even sparrowhawks. A local sixth-former, Clare Barnard, who lived in the vicinity, watched this diverse eco-system develop within a stone's throw of the town centre and alerted us to its possibilities with a detailed letter to one of our local newspapers last November. Many residents living nearby rallied to her cause, hoping that the site might be turned into a permanent nature reserve, but they will be disappointed because no matter how good the cause, profit invariably takes precedence over philanthropy.

Odd items and documents from Bourne's past are continually turning up in the strangest places and I do my best to help identify them. The latest has been found at a house in the United States and is almost 100 years old but the owner is completely baffled as to how it got there. Harold Jarvis, a 70-year-old retired minister, has emailed me from Marietta, Ohio, with the details of his discovery while rummaging among boxes in his basement and its origins are not in doubt. It is a small notebook, measuring just under two inches by three with tin covers and a small holder for a pencil. The front has a framed picture with the inscription Abbey Church, Bourne 52245J.V across the bottom while someone has written on the first page: "This tablet came from England in the year of 1911 shortly after the Coronation." Inside the back cover is a small black label on which is printed in silver: "W. Pearce, Stationer, Bourne."

"My father obtained this from his father's house in the mid-1940s when my grandfather left to live with one of his daughters", writes Harold, "and it came into my possession after his death. Thus, I find that I have an item which is probably worthless but which I cherish as a keepsake for sentimental reasons and for its history." Harold knows no more about it than that but I have been able to add a little to his knowledge. The item is almost certainly a piece of giftware from our town and sold by the shop mentioned. William Pearce, stationer, operated from No 19 North Street, Bourne, where there have been buildings on the site since 1666. His family business was established here in 1840 and continued trading until the middle part of the 20th century when the old premises were demolished to make way for a new flat-roofed modern retail block and this particular unit at No 19 is now occupied by Bourne Bookworld.

It was the habit of some shops to stock such items for sale to visitors and to local people as gifts. If it had contained some mention of the Coronation of King George V in June 1911, then it would have been one of those highly collectable commemorative pieces that are issued to mark such occasions but it appears to be just a simple memento from Bourne. Perhaps it was bought by an American tourist who was visiting England or even sent to the United States as a gift by a pen pal or relative. However, the meaning of the figures and letters escape me and perhaps some reader may be able to shed some light on the mystery.

We are pleased to be helping ever more pupils with their studies in the United States. I mentioned last week that photographs of Bourne Woods are being used by boys and girls at Edgerton Elementary School in Wisconsin, as part of their lessons in ecology and biomes and now we have had another request for help from across the Atlantic, this time from the elementary school at Lithia Springs in Georgia. Their librarian, Lynda Parker emailed me this week saying that scarecrows were on their curriculum this term and having surfed the Internet for information, the Bourne web site was the only one to provide any facts on the subject and she wants to link the page to the school's computers as a teaching aid for the boys and girls to study. We were more than happy to help because it is this sort of co-operation that makes the web site so worthwhile.

Lynda also tells me that she lived in this country for seven years, working at an American school near Oxford, and she never tires of telling her friends that she loves the countryside, which is why she admires the Bourne web site. She was also interested in this week's poll on whether the traffic lights in Bourne town centre should be replaced by a central roundabout. "Roundabouts are number one in my book", she said, "so yes, change the lights." The poll, incidentally, attracted almost 150 votes with a small majority in favour of a roundabout and so we hope that our councillors will take note.

Thought for the Week: Most counties have re-opened either all or a large part of their footpath and bridleway networks in the light of evidence from government vets that the risks of users spreading foot and mouth disease are negligible. An exception, though, is Lincolnshire, which, in spite of lying well away from the foot and mouth outbreaks, and in spite of having few animals in its largely arable farms, is still threatening anyone who strays on to 88 per cent of its footpaths with £5,000 fines. The reason, it turns out, is that the county council delegated the decision of whether paths should be open or closed to the worthies of the village halls. And many of them, it turns out, are landowners, who find it convenient to use foot and mouth as an excuse for keeping oiks off their land, and general busybodies who have been waiting three decades for the chance to exercise their little bit of power and to stop somebody doing something. - Ross Clark writing in his Banned Wagon column in The Spectator, 7th July 2001.

Saturday 21^st July 2001

Skateboarding may seem a harmless enough occupation yet it is causing serious problems here in Bourne and at least one resident has become so fed up with the noise generated by teenagers practising their sport near his home late into the night that he has sought and been granted a noise abatement order for the nuisance to end. This concerned the car park adjoining the Hereward Group Practice in Exeter Street where the young offenders turned up in cars with stereo radios blaring, often as many as 35 in number, on Sundays and in the evenings, and the following morning the area was littered with debris from their activities, fast food wrappers, cans and beer bottles.

Sainsburys car park had also been used for the same purpose and now the skateboarders are back at the car park outside Budgens supermarket where there has been a lull from their activities following many similar problems last year. One contributor to the Bourne Forum filed a complaint earlier this month saying that the noise continued on a Monday night until 11.35 p m and even then the youngsters only dispersed after residents of the houses in Meadowgate that overlook the car park went outside and complained and a more serious confrontation was only avoided earlier in the evening by the arrival of the police who turned up mob-handed and with dogs.

All of these car parks have warning notices about such illegal activities although it is not the owners who suffer from these anti-social activities but the people who live in the vicinity. If you are among those who are so disturbed, then it is worthwhile pointing out to the owners that it is their responsibility to stop the annoyance otherwise they could face a fine of £20,000 if the South Kesteven District Council intervened and issued a noise abatement order while the culprits could be similarly penalised with a £5,000 fine if the nuisance continues.

The usual reply from young skateboarders when buttonholed about the problems they cause by using illegal sites for their sport is that there is nowhere else for them to go and although this may be true, it is a totally invalid reason and even if a case were to be made for them using the Budgens car park, there is no possible justification for them being there so late into the night. Whether the local authorities would even consider providing a skateboard park is neither here nor there because we have seen the speed at which they operate by their procrastination over the provision of a waste recycling centre for Bourne and so whether they did or did not agree to such a facility, those now being so thoroughly inconvenienced would find no relief for at least another twelve months or more by which time the craze may well be over.

The problem therefore is with us here and now and as with all disorderly and disruptive activities, there will be much hand wringing by those in power, our local councillors and the police, and nothing will be done. This column has mentioned before that we are living in an increasingly lawless society and although the crimes that are being committed in Bourne are not the murder and mayhem that command headlines in the national press, it is these small and insidious infringements of the law that make life unbearable for those affected. Harassment is fast becoming endemic in our society and the perpetrators continue to cock a snook not only at the law, but also against the unwritten code of civilised behaviour, while those who try to live by the rules and at peace with their neighbours are the ones who will suffer. As Ann Widdecombe so rightly pointed out, it is the victims who should be getting our sympathy and not the perpetrators.

Another intimidating experience is to find unwanted callers on your doorstep, usually trying to sell something or even begging in the most blatant fashion. Most people are sufficiently robust to hold their own against such intrusions but the old and infirm are less able to cope and young housewives are also vulnerable and likely to be coerced and even frightened by such encounters. A single parent wrote to the Bourne Forum this week saying that she was quite worried by a number of recent callers, all unknown and a little down at heel, but all gave cause for concern. This is what she wrote:

The first was a woman selling pegs and other items made from whittled wood but I told her that I had a tumble drier. Secondly, there was a lady with a very poorly looking child, hawking lucky heather. She was a bit scary and I thought she might be casing the place. You do read some awful things. Anyway, by the look of her, the heather hadn't brought her much good fortune so I declined the offer. Then an oldish man came to the door offering to sharpen knives and scissors. I felt really sorry for him and gave him an old knife from the kitchen which he wiped half a dozen times on the front door step and charged me 50p!

All of these doorstep callers were breaking the law. There are usually some travellers camped in the vicinity at this time of the year but they have no more rights than any other itinerant sales people. Anyone who calls trying to sell something needs a licence and you are perfectly entitled to ask them for such credentials. This may take some courage for less sturdy souls and for them there is a simple answer: do not answer your door to anyone. After all, whoever does ring or knock does so for their own benefit and not for yours and if you are overcome by an insatiable curiosity, then you only have yourself to blame.

The main problem with the Butterfield Day Care Centre that appears to be in serious financial difficulties is that this fine building is seriously under-used. It needs a leap of faith to understand why so much space should be devoted to 30 people on four days a week with the average age of 84 when other sections of the community are crying out for somewhere to hold their activities. The centre exists on annual grants of £21,000 from our local councils and although no one would deny that we need to look after our senior citizens, even the most charitable among us might find this a high price to pay for so little return.

The Butterfield Hospital, as it was previously known, was bequeathed to this town in 1909 in the will of a Mr Butterfield, a Yorkshireman who spent his final days there as a patient, and although it should still rightfully belong to Bourne, it was swallowed up by the National Health Service when it came into being in 1948 and bureaucracy is such that ownership is now claimed by the South Lincolnshire Community and Mental Health Services N H S Trust although were their claim to be legally contested, they would probably have great difficulty in proving it. Nevertheless, possession is nine points of the law and in the absence of such a challenge, we must accept them as the owners and therefore it is up to them to ensure that the building is fully used. Youth activities first spring to mind and what better place to hold them than a grand old building that gives succour to the old during the day and pleasure to the young at night and at weekends but for such a dramatic change of use, we need an enthusiasm and a will to succeed for the public good that is not always apparent among our local authorities and those who run our affairs.

England abounds with folklore and customs that are quaint and interesting and purport to reflect our rich rural heritage but whether or not it is all true is another matter. I was in Rippingale last week, a village five miles north of Bourne just off the A15, making a regular visit to the parish church in pursuance of various researches and I took a closer look at something that had previously caught my attention, a brush that hangs in a glass fronted case on the wall at the end of the nave. A notice informs us that this is a body brush that was used in olden days to brush the soles of the feet of the dying and so have a soothing effect on their passing and was presented to the church by a man called Job Abel Atkinson in 1923 when it was considered to be of sufficient local interest to deserve a place for posterity in the parish church.

This artefact and the hand-written notice looked very suspicious and so I checked my extensive library on country customs but could find no reference to such a practice either in Rippingale or anywhere else in England. Then I discovered that Job Abel Atkinson had actually died in 1900 and so this was obviously a fraud, perhaps even a practical joke at a time when country parsons were not renowned for their sense of humour, if indeed they are today. The exhibit was nothing more than an old horse brush that would be far more useful preening the coat of a hefty Shire or Percheron rather than tickling the feet of some village worthy about to meet his maker. But what Rippingale has it will keep and as this exhibit is mentioned in many of the guide books for Lincolnshire, and indeed England, visitors will continue to arrive at this church to inspect something from our past that commemorates an usual and unique custom. Churches in the past survived on their relics and only the most churlish among us would wish to see this practice discontinued for after all, the building itself commemorates what is perhaps the greatest myth the world has ever known.

This week's poll on the legalisation of cannabis produced an unequivocal result against it being freely available for public use. The 80% majority against such a practice was particularly surprising in view of the known drug culture that exists here in Bourne. I often vote in the web site polls because my opinions are as valid as those of the next man but this time I abstained because I could not make up my mind. I disagree intensely with the free distribution of drugs because as a journalist for half a century I have both seen and heard many harrowing examples of their misuse but at the same time, prohibition is the catalyst for indulgence as was proved in the United States during the period 1920-33 when alcohol was declared illegal, leading to bootlegging and the unlawful distribution of liquor, often illicitly distilled, to the advantage of organised crime.

Cannabis is among the softer of the available drugs but were it to be freely available and its use become more widespread, we must accept the possible progression to hard drugs such as heroin which is society's greater evil and a similar situation to that in the United States eight years ago has already developed here. One contributor to the Bourne Forum this week wrote: "Heroin has been the key driver of the crime explosion in our towns and cities over the past twenty years. The dealers use violence to secure a monopoly for supply and they adulterate pure heroin with other substances to increase their profit margins. The addicts commit crime to pay for their habit. The National Health Service, funded by you and me, tries to pick up the pieces when the bad drugs finally take their toll. Families are devastated. Society is devastated."

The debate continues here in Bourne and in Westminster where the final decision will be made although the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has made it quite clear that the legalisation of cannabis is not an option at the moment.

Thought for the Week: Bourne has some of the finest sensimilla [marijuana] this side of Cambridge, so it's a bit late to vote "No". - comment from a voter in this week's web site poll on whether the use of cannabis should be legalised in Britain.

Saturday 28^th July 2001

More than 700 groups comprising trade unionists, socialists and environmentalists joined the demonstrations but many of the anti-globalist organisations were rightly concerned that the violence took the focus away from their agenda calling for a more equal distribution of wealth, the cancellation of debts to the world's poorest countries and a curb on the growth of corporate power. The conference was also diminished by its cost, reported to be £300 million, when most of the communiqués issued had been written days before and its sole object was revealed as junketing on a large scale and the vanity of world leaders to be seen and photographed in each other's company.

The core of this protest then was a direct result of the estrangement of the people from their governments that was demonstrated in Britain during the general election on June 7th when only 59% of the electorate voted, the lowest turnout since 1918, the rest being mainly disenchanted with the choice because they felt that whoever won, there would be little change in overall policy. People no longer trust their government, either national or local. They are angry that decisions are being taken in their name without any form of public consultation and that policy is being unduly influenced by private and usually vested interests. They feel isolated and ignored and they are angry.

We have prided ourselves in the past on being a democracy but decisions that were once taken in the name of the people are now being wholly influenced by outside financial interests, by the International Monetary Fund, the European Economic Commission, the World Bank and powerful countries such as the United States whose wealth is their weapon. International power is giving way to economic dominance and world affairs are now dictated by the currency blocs of the dollar, the mark, the pound and the yen rather than the political influences of the left and the right.

Although most of us abhor violence, direct action has long been a tradition in the face of injustice, exemplified by such events as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Peterloo Massacre, the storming of the Bastille and the Winter Palace, through the years to the present time while the history of the British Empire was one of nationalist leaders being imprisoned for their beliefs only to be released to become presidents and prime ministers of their countries. This is democracy at work and those who govern us now cannot expect anything different from a dissatisfied electorate. Whether it is right or wrong is another matter. The point is that democracy has within it the very seeds of dissent because it allows such protests that have been responsible for pushing history forward. Genoa has proved yet again that world leaders must take heed of the people. Politicians who run our affairs should therefore tread softly and listen more carefully to those who put them in office rather than allow policy to be dictated by big business or other alien interests for this is a drift towards a global domination influenced entirely by money rather than the moral standards which we expect.

There is sufficient evidence that the people are similarly disenchanted with our government at local level and that they no longer have a say in their own affairs. Councillors are elected and then disappear until they need our vote again and in the meantime their contact with the people becomes vague. They give the impression that election has conferred upon them a special status, that they are elevated in public esteem and this appeals to their vanity, whereas the reality is that few have achieved office by more than a few hundred votes while their names remain meaningless to most. The fact that they have little or no opposition at the hustings does not occur to them because victory overshadows all and clouds the reality of the situation. Nevertheless, we expect them to serve in our best interests and not in theirs and we are rightly disappointed when many are reluctant to tell us about their activities, either through letters to the local newspapers or contributions to our forum, both mediums that are immediate lines of communication to the electorate.

Visitors to this web site have been voting this week over whether too many new houses are being built in and around Bourne and the result is unequivocal. A majority of 92% were totally opposed to the housing schemes that are slowly enveloping the town and, because our property prices are lower, turning it into a dormitory for surrounding centres where business, commercial and industrial growth is greater. The whole point of the democratic process is for those elected to carry the message of the people into the council chamber where these planning decisions are made but I fear that even this clarion call for a halt to more housing will fall on deaf ears and the advance of bricks and mortar into our countryside will continue unabated. Either our councillors have no power whatsoever or they are turning their backs on the people that elected them.

The Bourne Forum is the obvious place for councillors to explain these policies and although at least three of our local members of South Kesteven District Council have Internet access, none have thought this subject, or the people they represent, important enough to make a contribution, However, all is not lost because Guy Cudmore, a town council member for Bourne East, has this week provided a revealing insight into the current planning procedures with a detailed contribution in which he says that although the district authority has been instructed by central government on how many new houses must be built, its members could prevent such developments if they had the will. He goes on:

What is really needed is for South Kesteven District Council to take a stand and refuse to plan for any more houses. We already have more houses in the district, built, under construction or firmly planned, than the facilities available can cater for adequately. There will not be any resources forthcoming to improve schools, health care, roads and transportation, policing etc, up to the standard required, to service the population we now have let alone for what the population will be in ten years' time. There is no need whatsoever for any more houses. They are not for Lincolnshire people; they are dormitory accommodation for long distance commuters. In the light of congested roads and decrepit railways, is this wise? South Kesteven District Council must refuse to co-operate with this dictatorial policy. The decision will then rest with a public inquiry chaired by a planning inspector. The government stands to get the political backlash resulting from an unelected body overruling the will of democratically elected local representatives. If S K D C gets together with several other district councils to organise a mass refusal to countenance any more unnecessary housing development, then the planning inspectorate is going to get bogged down with more public enquiries than it can handle. The government will have a crisis management problem on its hands. There is no rational argument which the government can put forward for ordering so many rural districts to build so many unnecessary houses. Any decision to impose these houses upon the districts would therefore be irrational and open to judicial review. It all depends upon whether our district councillors are willing to stand up and be counted. Perhaps the forthcoming elections will help to focus their thoughts.

The summer holidays are with us and there are two sections of society that are enjoying long breaks when we and they would be better served if both were to stay at their posts a little longer. The House of Commons has recessed until mid-October and we must be forgiven for asking in which other job with £114,000 in annual salary and allowances do you get a three months paid holiday? Meanwhile, our schoolchildren are also on vacation and will not be back in the classroom until September. Of all the people in this land that should be working every available hour for the benefit of Britain is our teachers and our Members of Parliament.

If the country can continue to run without our elected representatives during these months of high summer, then perhaps we can do without them altogether. Similarly, we are being repeatedly told that educational standards are in decline and that many children leave school without the rudiments of a basic education such as reading, writing and arithmetic, and yet many are spending their time on frivolous activities such as kicking a football around the streets, lounging about the town centre, clattering noisily through the shops or making mischief in some corner of the neighbourhood.

There are those young people who take their vacations seriously, some doing jobs and worthwhile work while still keeping up with their studies but there are many others who wander aimlessly through these summer days without a thought for their education and intellectual advancement yet a little more instruction in the rudiments of English grammar, for instance, would not go amiss. We were in a local supermarket this week as kids thronged the aisles, with and without their parents, and one of the checkout ladies was obviously feeling the strain. "They make life very difficult during the school holidays", she said, "and their language is quite dreadful."

Perhaps I am being an old curmudgeon in suggesting shorter summer holidays for our schoolchildren and so I have decided to put the issue to the test and it will be the subject of this week's web site poll. I realise that many children log on and will vote in their own favour but equally there are enough parents and other interested people to keep the balance and so I feel that the vote will be a valid reflection of public opinion.

Two items from different sources are reproduced here to demonstrate the bizarre world in which we live.

• The Stamford Mercury last Friday published an extract from its archives telling us that in July 1801, John Exten and Ann Baker were convicted and sentenced to death for killing a sheep.
• The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs announced on July 21st that during the current outbreak of foot and mouth disease, 3,588,000 animals have been slaughtered, 2,891,000 of them sheep, and a further 23,000 animals are awaiting a similar fate.

Eagle-eyed visitors to the Bourne web site will have spotted a new logo on the bottom of the opening page. This is a link to a new feature called Web Trends that will enable us track the source and habits of those who log on. It has been in place for a week and the most revealing fact to emerge so far is that the majority of our new visitors log on at 11 a m in the morning. The feature also provides a wealth of other information about the search engines that direct visitors to our web site and even what type of browser they are using with more than 90% depending on Microsoft Internet Explorer. Web Trends is yet another example of the progress being made on the Internet and we wonder what other developments we will see before the year is out.

Thought for the Week: Today, hard drug use in Britain is at pandemic levels. Since 1971, when a long-standing enlightened policy of treating addiction as a medical problem was abandoned and the current punitive regime installed, the number of heroin users has risen a thousand-fold, and they are currently the youngest in Europe. - John Gray, Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics.

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