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Nigel Thornton: Bollards... again!
Don't panic! The bollards are coming! Yes, the city council says the long-awaited bollards to stop drivers clogging up the pedestrianised heart of the city will be in place within a few months.
Don't panic! The bollards are coming! Yes, the city council says the long-awaited bollards to stop drivers clogging up the pedestrianised heart of the city will be in place within a few months.Well, don't hold your breath.
Back in January 2008, a crazed driver ploughed into shoppers in Long Causeway and stabbed one brave man who intervened.
Fortunately, no-one died.
It should have led to immediate action to ensure there could be no repeat. But it didn't.
There were fine words from the ruling Tory group with one councillor saying: "Bringing in the rising bollards has been planned for some time but this incident has brought it forward a few months. We're hoping that consultation with shops and businesses will be underway soon. The bollards could be in place by the end of spring or beginning of summer."
Fast forward a year and there are still no bollards. Plenty of excuses, but no bollards.
As Nick Petruzziello, the hero of Long Causeway, who nearly lost his life tackling the knifeman said last week in The ET: "I would have thought with something so serious action would have been taken straight away."
It wasn't. But we can take comfort from another senior councillor who tells us the parking situation has "markedly improved''.
Really? I beg to differ – as recently as the first week in December I counted no fewer than 28 vehicles in Cathedral Square and Church Street, which officially made it the second busiest "road'' in the country after the M25.
The reason the situation has "markedly improved'' we learn is that because now it is illegal to park in these areas whereas a year ago it was only illegal to drive on them.
I really can't believe what I'm hearing.
How did the parked cars get there? Did the drivers get out and push them? Were they dropped in by helicopter or merely teleported?
I'm fed up writing bollards, no doubt you're fed up of reading bollards, but most of all I'm sick and tired of councillors talking bollards.
Still, let's not be negative, after all we now have a new promise that the bollards will be in place by the end of March.We're behind you, Ray
Peterborough pantomime villain Ray Quinn made an impressive start in the Dancing On Ice contest.
The Scouse Sinatra (ho, ho, ho), who disappointed many of his city fans when he left Aladdin at the Broadway early so he could join the ITV show, displayed plenty of fancy footwork.
But he'd better hope he can keep it up, because if the voting gets close, it could be disappointed Peterborough panto- goers who tip the balance in favour of his opponents.
Despite a very high-powered PR campaign aimed at redressing the damage caused by his earlier bouts of loutish behaviour, it's hard not to conclude that Prince Harry is an over-privileged brat.
The latest scandal, where he was caught on tape referring to a pal as a "Paki", might have shocked many, but, given his reputation for gaffes can only have surprised a few.
Even so, I don't believe that just because somebody uses a racist term necessarily makes them a racist.
As reported in The ET, there was an encouragingly level-headed reaction from city Asians to the Prince's comment.
And it's worth remembering that as a society we'll only know we have purged ourselves of the vile cancer that racism is when we can all call each other names with no offence meant nor taken.
It was great to meet X Factor star Aston Merrygold when he popped into Telegraph Towers this week to thank The ET for the support given to his band JLS.
As he chatted to us, he confirmed the impression that here was a nice friendly lad who had done his hometown proud.
One small incident stuck out for me. A colleague asked Aston for an autograph for his teenage daughter. "Can you sign it to 'Rachael' please?'' asked the ET man.
Straight away Aston replied: "Is that Rachael with an 'ae' or just 'e'?"
Such consideration for his fans – if he'd spelled her name incorrectly it would have spoilt the souvenir a bit for the teenager – will stand him in good stead.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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