The news factory returns

Only a few more days to go. The summer holidays will be over, the kids back at school and normal service will be resumed at County Hall. This means members of the always-entertaining Miscellaneous Licensing Committee can get back to doing what they do best - debating the rights and wrongs of sex shops.

Proposals for a shop in Truro to deal in "personal products for adults" come back for consideration next Wednesday. A key part of the licensing process is the arrangement of any window displays.

One objector to the granting of a licence claims that such shops "arouse the interest of voyeurs and those given to depraved or licentious interests." Another points out that if you go upstairs on a double-decker bus and ride around Truro for long enough, you'll eventually drive past the shop and be level with the first-floor windows - and possibly be able to see everything.

No wonder August seemed so dull.

Senior Service en vacance?

South East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray on BBC Radio Cornwall last week: "....the Royal Navy broke up for their summer holidays..."

Something to hide?

Much discussion on Cornwall Council's backbenches about the psychology of beards. I'm grateful to The Chronicle of Higher Education for this:

"A recent study in the Journal of Marketing Communications apparently found that men with beards were deemed more credible than those who were clean-shaven. The study showed participants pictures of men endorsing certain products. In some photos, the men were clean-shaven. In others, the same men had beards. Participants thought the men with beards had greater expertise and were significantly more trustworthy when they were endorsing products like cell phones and toothpaste. But, oddly, men with beards were slightly less effective than smooth-cheeked fellows in underwear advertisements."

Date set for incinerator legal challenge

Sometime in the week beginning 10th October, listed for one day.
STOP PRESS: Now two days, October 11 and 12.

Grub first, then ethics

A shame that the agenda for Tuesday's Review of Ethical Standards Sub Committee does not include the draft recommendations on conduct and sanctions. Time to introduce new measures (such as a published register?) to deal with councillors who are late with their council tax payments?

Too young to know?

Scratching away at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust appeal for 11-year-olds to boost its Foundation Trust membership drive, I learn that the regulator, Monitor, has this to say in its Guide for Applicants:

"1. A minimum age to be appointed as a governor should be included in the constitution, being at least 16 at the closing date for nominations.
2. Monitor will not specify a minimum age for members. It is for the trust to justify the age.
However, it should be noted that it is not permissible, pursuant to the 2006 Act to
establish lesser categories of membership, such as associate membership."

I was interested to note that the Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust requires its members to be at least 14-years-old. And I was relieved to discover that Monitor requires all governors to maintain a register of interests. But I'm afraid I'm still none the wiser about how or why membership affords greater influence over hospital management - or indeed anything else - than that enjoyed by any other citizen.

Tories on top

Last night's by-election results:

Newquay Town Council (North Ward):

Phil Ley ( Liberal Democrats) 388
Lisa Shuttlewood (Conservative Party) 444

Torpoint Town Council

John Robert Campbell (The Conservative Party) 351
Joanne Frances Hunt 150