November 3: City council should get a welcome
The proposal to create a new "city council" would be welcomed by the residents of Northampton. At a stroke it would do away with a level of bureaucracy and save the ratepayers thousands in duplicated costs of the existing borough and county councils.
A unitary authority would also mean that Northampton received the full range of services to which it is entitled.
The Conservatives' opposition is shameful. The Conservative county council's appalling neglect of Northampton's roads and schools is well documented, as is its mismanagement of the public purse with debts in excess of 600 million.
The Liberal Democrats will stand the test of the electorate; there is no comparison between their performance and the failed county council. Why not ask your readers?
Michael Torpy,
Kettering Road, Northampton.
I hope it's not the final curtain
HOW sad to read of the possible demise of that Northampton institution the Amateur Operatic Company.
My late father Vic Wilkins appeared in many shows afterwards becoming stage manager and I well remember the shows at the ABC and the earlier ones at the old New Theatre.
We always used to see father in his dressing room and recall the call boy, Maurice Whiting knocking on the dressing room doors.
I could fill this letter with anecdotes but will restrict myself to two.
The Saturday matinee of Desert Song clashed once with the Grand National and one actor suggested reading out the race results during the show.
At the old New Theatre after the show members were presented with gifts. This policy was soon stopped as it seemed to take all night.
However father once received a parcel with a note saying "this is my opinion of your acting" and inside was a quantity of tripe.
I have often said that it's a pity records of the old days are gradually being lost.
Father made some tapes for hospital radio with the late Francis Goodman of his work as stage manager along with music from the various shows starting with The Arcadians back in the 1950s when father was a smash hit playing the miserable jockey Peter Doody. He actually reprised this role at the Spinney Hill Hall.
Happily these tapes were not wiped and they are now in the family archives.
Let's hope the NAOC sort out their problems and we do not read of the last show or final curtain!
Paul Wilkins,
Wycliffe Road, Northampton.
My early start, thanks to Tesco
IN reference to the recent letter about Tesco Express, I am a resident who lives directly opposite the shop, and I couldn't agree more that Kingsley didn't need a Tesco Express, due to one being in Wellingborough Road and another at Parklands.
I feel that it will have a big impact on the local businesses.
Since Tesco has opened, it has taken up its own loading bay on the front of the shop on the main road which I consider dangerous as the lines are not wide enough for a lorry.
Lorries have indented the tarmac and they continuously drive up the curb.
One morning, while one Tesco lorry was unloading in the loading bay, another Tesco lorry was waiting on the opposite side of the road in a residential parking bay.
My day now starts at 5.30 in the morning, seven days a week due to unloading of lorries at the front of the shop, crashing tail gates down and being so noisy, which I find very inconsiderate at that time of the morning for the local residents.
Have spoken to Tesco twice over the noise, I feel I’m not being listened to.
What Tesco wants, Tesco gets!
Katie Hillery,
St Matthew’s Parade, Kingsley, Northampton.
Many would like MPs’ wage slips
You reported that both Northampton sitting MPs, Brian Binley (Tory) and Sally Keeble (Labour) had jointly expressed their concern about the proposed cuts in MPs’ expenses.
Interestingly, both have previously received critical comment that their own expense claims were excessive. Now they have the nerve to complain about a long overdue review of the rules governing MPs’ expense claims. The only criticism of it so far outside Westminster, having been that it hasn’t gone far enough!
They believe that poorer people will be reluctant to serve as MPs if such expenses are reduced. These comments clearly demonstrate their total isolation from the problems of ordinary working people!
MPs get nearly 65,000 per year and even under new rules will still be able to make substantial claims for living allowances, etc. Yet they still complain! Are they so detached, so used to making excessive claims that they really believe people from poorer backgrounds would not jump at the chance of earning that kind of money?
Their comments are frankly insulting to all the hard-working people in Northampton who put in long and hard hours to earn a fraction of that kind of money, and can’t claim expenses at all!
One hopes that at the General Election people will remember their self-serving and brazenly shameless comments and vote for the United Kingdom Independence Party. Both our candidates pledge support for new controls to prevent the abuses that became all too common by the present crop of MPs.
Jacqui Irving,
Chairman, Northampton Branch, United Kingdom Independence Party.
Inspect bonfires for hedgehogs
This time of year hedgehogs will be looking for somewhere to spend winter hibernation. A pile of bonfire material could be seen by a hedgehog as an ideal place.
I urge November 5 bonfire organisers to check the base of the fire material for one of Britain’s favourite mammals before setting light to the fire.
Ideally, the bonfire material should be stored in one place then moved and built into a bonfire at the burning site at the last minute before lighting. This is the only way to be really certain that there are no hibernating hedgehogs in the material.
Cliff Goodman,
Hamsterly Park, Southfields, Northampton.
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Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
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