News is not all doom and gloom

It would be good if we could all be happy all of the time. We can but try. Sometimes I feel that if you are optimistic in today’s world you’ve lost the plot, writes Cllr Chris Ash of the Liberal party.

Talk about Brexit goes on and on, undiplomatic comments from the White House in America go on, and atrocities go on and on.

The demise of Carillion goes further than shareholders and well paid directors. It hits hard on workers and sub-contractors and companies that do a large part of their business with Carillion.

I do try to avoid being overly political in these pieces but I cant help feeling that there is something wrong when massive organisations have a hold on us and when it all goes belly up the whole community suffers.

Which company will be next to fail, give up or give in?

Was, for example our main line service any worse when it was run by the public sector – I think not. The London to Edinburgh line through Peterborough (the East Coast Main Line) should be highly profitable.

Yet we once again seem to find yet another group running the franchise is having difficulties with it. Why should that be? Should the government be letting it happen?

As an ex-BR employee I was lucky enough to play a small part in the department responsible for the electrification of the East Coast Main Line. The project came in on time and on budget.

The men and women that worked on the project were dedicated and believed in what they were doing and the reason for doing it.

I have always believed that for most who work in the public sector, be it a small council or a large national outfit the motivation of staff is to serve the public and the country. It seems to me where there are failures it is all too often down to the systems imposed on those who know they will not work.

I always reckon big company reorganisations come in three phase cycles.

Planning them, imposing them on people who are tasked with trying to make something of it and changing them because they don’t work.

So I reckon the work to make things better must go on. Not easy when everyone is struggling through the winter months and trying to make sense of everything.

But, surely there must be plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

Reading the papers or hearing the news it does make it seem to me that good news is no news. Perhaps the purpose is to strip off the veneer of comforting illusion and cosy half-truth. So my job in this article, as I see it, is to make some attempt to put it back again.

I think that is what politicians are supposed to do even local ones. Okay, I accept my idea of what’s good and what’s bad do not fully coincide with yours. But it’s my go now.

Mind you looking around it’s not easy to break away from all the doom gloom, but I promise you there is some good stuff going on. Honest.

I am not long back from the reopening and rededication following completion of refurbishment work at the St George’s Hydrotherapy Pool.

For a while this much needed facility had an uncertain future. Thanks to support from a wide variety of people including many in the City Council and particularly volunteers and supporters, the pool is back up and running for those that get benefit and relief from using the it.

We had our first Christmas dinner for 2018 although it was officially described as the Eye Community Post Christmas dinner. It is always really good to see communities come together.

Though as with all community events they don’t come about by chance and it is down to the work of supporters and volunteers to make it all happen.

We should give our sincere thanks to those that organise events for their communities.

Let’s all come together in harmony and make life a bit brighter for everyone.