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Paul Stainton: The man behind the mic - Common sense prevails over school crossing patrols
Power to the People... Citizen Smith (Wolfie/Foxy) would have been proud.
Common sense has prevailed, school crossing patrols will not be axed and the safety of Peterborough kids on their way to school will not be compromised.
What a remarkable show of community strength, built on some incredible and unlikely alliances.
The ET joined forces with the Peterborough Breakfast Show, MP Stewart Jackson held hands with councillor Ed Murphy, but most important of all, you, the people of Peterborough, made your voice heard and forced the people who run this city to listen and perform a spectacular U-turn.
“It was important to have this debate” (councillor David Seaton, pinhead of the month), “it was the idea of council officers” (councillor Wayne Fitzgerald), “It wasn’t me” (Shaggy).
These questions and discussions are rarely prompted by the public.
I don’t recall anybody ringing the show and saying “Can you ask the council why they haven’t started a consultation on putting our kids’ lives in danger” and I certainly don’t remember the listeners camped outside the Town Hall, chanting “We want fountains, we want fountains, we want fountains.”
Nobody wanted to take the credit for having come up with this ingenious school crossing plan, but I will wager a couple of quid from my Monaco bank account (Shep 66), that whoever did have this brainwave, doesn’t have kids.
But it has been a good week for the little blighters, best ever GSCE and A-level results in the city (although still not great) and a supermarket style reward scheme has been launched for students at the Nene Park Academy. Collect enough points and you might get an ipod shuffle.
The only thing I collected at school was trips to the headmaster’s office!
Perhaps though, you guys, with your new found power, should think about introducing a citywide reward points system, for great work and good behaviour?
Just think, instead of allowances, councillors would receive points for good ideas, work rate and ethics.
A few would already have enough points for a nice, shiny new iphone, although others would have to make do with a cold cup of coffee from Costa.
Posh footballers could forgo their wages and instead earn points for performance and attitude. Points will be deducted for waving at your mum in the crowd whilst the game is on, or for abusing everyone and everything around you.
Defender Gabby Zakuani already has enough points for a new pair of tights, whilst goalkeeper Joe Lewis and striker Lee Tomlin will be sharing a packet of digestives.
The new system may not have the desired effect and performance levels may not rise sharply, but at least we would save an absolute fortune.
Good idea or bad idea ?
You decide, you’re in charge and don’t ever let them forget that.
-- Paul Stainton’s Peterborough Breakfast Show is on 95.7FM BBC Cambridgeshire every weekday morning between 6&9am
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
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SokeBoy
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 10:27 AMPaul, i like your thinking but what you are suggesting already exists in a form called Timebanking. Instead of trying to establish a similar scheme to what already exists (as certain organisations in our city like to do), why not use your considerable local influence to argue the case for a city-wide timebanking scheme for Peterborough? Just a thought- and please keep up the good work!
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