Whitehaven Town Council - debate on security measures

In May this year I will pass the milestone of 25 years' experience as a councillor on various authorities; and over that quarter-century I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of occasions where a reasonable person might have felt themselves unsafe or threatened in the position I found myself while carrying out council duties or related to them. The number of occasions where there was a need for a police or security presence even on a precautionary basis (other than when they were the people we were meeting to discuss police issues!) at council meetings was likewise very rare.

This week I have attended a number of council meetings and after one of them went on to a meeting with non councillors. They made - in a gently mocking way rather than a nasty one - a number of jokes about councillors needing pepper spray and baseball bats and I didn't have a clue what they were on about.

Then on the way home I picked up this week's Whitehaven News and read this.

I sometimes use the acronym "MRDA" for "Mandy Rice Davies Applies" (He would say that, wouldn't he.)

From now on when I say RWA it means "Richard Wilson Applies" for the best known line that actor uses in "One foot in the grave."

There are people associated with Whitehaven Town Council who are working very hard to make it an effective body which provides a good service to residents of the town, and I feel for the current mayor, Brian O'Kane, who is one of them and was put in the position of having to explain to the paper why a report on security measures is on the agenda.

There have already been some rash things said at and or the Town council and as I do not wish to add to them I am not going to make any further comment at this stage.

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