Changed opinions: local elections 2010 round 5

Today I received my first ever election leaflet from Mr Leakey and it’s amazing how electoral necessity can change opinions. Only a few months ago his comments on the refurbishment of the old GWR Barracks were mildly scathing.

[W]ho ever designed and agreed to the new entrance and stone work, must have suffered a momentary loss of their senses, for they most certainly bypassed any thoughts of preserving the historical character and appearance of the building…. Would it not have been beyond the capabilities of someone to have designed an entrance sympathetic to the fabric of the building and made it of wood and glass?

However, now his leaflet describes the building as “wonderfully restored”.

I also note that the leaflet claims that a blue council will “Improve street cleaning & graffiti removal” Seeing as the said party in Swindon Borough Council have only recently pushed through a budget that removes one of the thrice daily street cleaning rounds in the town centre, it’ll be more a case of undoing their own damage.

But the overwhelming impression of this leaflet was that the Mr Leakey-specific parts — the three paragraphs on the outer page and the captions beneath his photographs — bear no resemblance to the actions locally of the party he purports to represent.