Pork fattening

It’s a pity that, with there having been such a good response to how the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Lydiard Park was run, the blue nest on Swindon Borough Council have rather spoilt things by indulging in some troughing. In case they’ve not noticed there is a certain amount of public concern at the moment about politicians helping themselves to greater rewards than they deserve. You’d think that only the most arrogant, selfish or naïve local politician would not realise that it’s at best indulgent and at worst downright greedy to use complimentary tickets to attend an event when many of their electorate were unable to do so. Step forward the current Swindon Borough Council cabinet.

Swindon Council’s cabinet has defended the presence of about 15 to 20 Conservative councillors in the VIP area…. Coun Phil Young, the council’s lead cabinet member for culture, said the councillors needed to act as ambassadors.

Just how many ambassadors does one park need? Fifteen to twenty is enough ambassadors for a whole continent.

All of the cabinet and West Swindon councillors had tickets. Cabinet members are the civic leaders of this town and I wanted them to take the lead in hosting. They had to perform a hospitality role and welcome guests.

Hosting whom? From the Adver’s photo they seem to have been busily hosting themselves. Nor does coverage elsewhere show evidence of cabinet members at work.

With the current political furore over MPs’ expenses, the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, is in no position to be giving sermons on this sort of thing. But neither should the council’s cabinet be worshipping at the altar of self-indulgence.