Glittering prizes

Congratulations to BBC Radio Cornwall's Laurence Reed, who picked up his third consecutive gong for best regional news and current affairs radio programme at the EDF Media Awards in Bath yesterday. Yours truly was EDF's regional radio journalist of the year, which meant that Laurence and I were able to compare paperweights on the way home. A splendid time was had by all, particularly me, as seated at my table was an EDF chap who told me all kinds of interesting things about the proposed new Hinkley Point nuclear power station. My thanks to EDF and Hold The Front Page for hosting this event.

Cops and robbers

Thanks again to the FoI team: there's some amusing sport to be had from this list of items stolen from Devon and Cornwall police stations. Eleven thefts a year - that's nearly one a month. How did a burglar manage to steal a mattress? And what rotter has been going round nicking aftershave and the (presumably) WPCs' perfume and eye-liner?

In addition to the list of stuff stolen from police stations, there's a longer list recording the items where police have been the victims of crime while out on the street. Lots of jewellery, fishing rods and a six-pack of cider were among the swag which caught my eye. Of the 76 crimes recorded here, only seven resulted in prosecutions.

Time up for dinner time?

We're half a year on from when we reported that two Devon primary schools were scrapping hot school meals because they said they could not afford to buy them any more.

It now transpires that more than 60 of Devon's schools have quit the newly privatised service. More than a dozen now provide no hot meals at all, except where there is a statutory obligation to help children from families on benefit.

Information Request 02597
Please could you tell me how many county schools have opted out of the school meals service since September 2011 when the county council outsourced the meals to Devon Norse?
Devon County Council's response
Between September 2011 and April 2012, 64 schools decided not to receive their school meals service from Devon Norse.

And from the Devon Norse website:

In these times of economic pressure, Norse's pioneering approach to helping local authorities maintain high standards of service delivery will save Devon County Council money, protect local jobs and contribute to the local economy.

Looking for new, cost-efficient ways of working, Devon County Council was attracted to Norse's combination of public sector experience and commercial flair. The council believes these skills will develop the Joint Venture's business to everyone's benefit.

Devon Norse has responsibility for delivering cleaning services to schools and various NHS sites and civic buildings, along with catering at many of the county's schools and for civic functions.

Devon County Council said none of this was anything of their business - schools manage their own budgets, and questions about meals should be addressed to the service provider.

Anyone for politics? All I need now is a quote from Jamie Oliver and the job's done...

You wait for months and then you get two...

The entertainment potential provided by Devon and Cornwall Liberal Democrats over November's Police Commissioner election seems to know no limit.

In February it was all perfectly clear. After months of internal wrangling, the Lib Dems decided, finally, not to field a candidate.

And then they changed their minds. So the official position, as I write this, is that the Devon and Cornwall Lib Dems are now seeking a candidate.

Step forward North Devon's Brian Greenslade, a former chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Police Authority and a Liberal Democrat member of Devon county council. Except that Brian, who would very much like to be the Police Commissioner and who is a Liberal Democrat to his finger-tips, does not want to stand as a Liberal Democrat candidate.

This raises the highly amusing prospect of the Liberal Democrats having two candidates in the race - one of them official, one of them an independent.

Party officials are now frantically thumbing through their rule books to find out what the consequences of this might be: most seem to think that Brian could not stand against an official candidate and remain a member of the party.

How to start a war

listen to ‘Adrian Sanders MP on the pasty tax retreat’ on Audioboo

My thanks to Torbay MP Adrian Sanders for this analysis of the government's spectacular retreat on the pasty tax. Here's part of his interview with Matt Woodley from today's Good Morning Devon. The really controversial bit is at about 2:30 - on the origins of the pasty.

Lib Dems decide, finally, to contest Police Commissioner election

The weekend's gathering of the Devon & Cornwall Liberal Democrat regional executive endorsed a recommendation that the party should, after all, field a candidate in November.

The decision ends months of dithering and internal constitutional arm wrestling - and will put further distance between local activists and the Lib Dem High Command in London. Party leaders have said they are opposed to participation in the Police Commissioner elections.

But the soap opera isn't over yet. Now the Lib Dems must start the business of selecting a candidate. The Conservative and Labour Parties say they hope to announce their nominees within the next three or four weeks.

Mad dogs and Englishmen

Today's news about rabies made me wonder what happened in days gone by. I found this entry in Hansard for 24th October 1918:
Mr. R. McNEILL

asked the President of the Local Government Board if, in view of the danger arising from the existence of rabies in the country, he will issue information to the public as to what facilities there are for obtaining Pasteur treatment and as to the steps that should be taken by individuals who may be bitten by suspected dogs?

Mr. HAYES FISHER

A circular on the procedure to be adopted was sent to medical officers of health in Devonshire and Cornwall as soon as the Local Government Board were informed of the presence of rabies among dogs in these counties. It has now been revised, and a copy of the revised circular will be sent to the Press.

If you can think of more recent cases of rabies in Devon or Cornwall please let me know.