THANK goodness we live in an age of transparency when it comes to all things political these days.
At the click of a button, it’s amazing what you can find out there and none more so than when it comes to declarations in councillors’ register of interests. Over the years we have lifted the lid on the odd little perk collected by a councillor or two. Like Gonzo and those brogues he acquired from Church’s. More recently (and unreported), has been The Mack’s “commemerative” (sic) case of Carlsberg (to mark the recent visit of HRH Princess Benedikte of Denmark) or a shoe polish kit from Church & Co (again) and even four free tickets to see The Iron Lady at Vue in Northampton.
But sometimes transparency can pose as many questions as it appears to answer and none more so in the case of the bashful burger purveyor, Tony Ansell who, Aufona was led to believe, ran the likes of The Park Cafe in Abington Park and the All Saints Bistro in Northampton town centre.
Anyway, bear with us here. If you finally navigate your way around the borough council’s website, you come up with a link which includes 185 characters but that at least brings you to the black and white which is this. That on April 8, 2013 at 12.38pm, Tony amended his register of interests removing All Saints, the Park Cafe, the lease on the Park Cafe, the cottage he lives in in Abington Park Crescent, not to mention a property in St George’s Avenue and even his membership of the Conservative Councillors Association. Amid all of this, he remembered to add a litre bottle of Courvoisier from a grateful chap who he helped arrange for a commemorative shrub to be planted in Abington Park.
What we can’t fathom is all this was added to the register in April 2012, then removed on July 31, 2012 and then added the same day. Now, obviously, there’s no funny business going on, but us simple voters have no idea what to make of it short of turning to the Department for Communities and Local Government Openness and Transparency on Personal Interests: A guide for councillors. Which asks “When is information about my interests removed from my council’s register of members’ interests?” And answers: “If you cease to have an interest, that interest can be removed from the register.” So what’s up Tony?
AUFONA hears the selection process for Binners’ Northampton South seat should be decided by Christmas. While all the talk is of The Mack, it’s likely as many as 150 hopefuls will throw their hat in the ring with a shortlist of 10 to 15 people followed by a final line-up of three. And it’s those final three that need to start thinking now about some of the infamous questions they could be asked. Here’s three: What is your moral compass? What are your opponents’ strengths? and, most deliciously, who, in all history, would you have to a dinner party? (Thatcher, tick, Churchill, tick, Mandela, tick Jacques Dalors, mmm, fail?).
AT the last count, the BBC only had 8,000 journalists working for it so it was particularly encouraging to see the serfs at BBC Northampton getting such an outstanding line on the Doctor Who “regeneration” story during an “and finally”-style piece on a bulletin last Friday.
Without them, we’d have thought Matt Smith had simply handed over the reins to Peter Capaldi – (albeit one requiring a splash the cash standalone peak-time show fronted by the ever excitable Zoe Ball) – but no, there was more to it than that.
Here’s the borough’s regeneration spokesman, the Venerable Tim Hadland in an evening bulletin last Friday. And yes, this is verbatim: “When I took the job on two years ago I had no idea of its extent.
“I didn’t know I was going to have to, um regenerate the, er, outgoing Doctor Who and produce a new one with all the fanfare of Sunday. It’s probably the most exciting part of my duties and I feel very pleased with the result.”
Aufona wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
Tim might be delighted with his bravura performance at the mic, but quite whether The Mack sanctioned this comedy turn in the name of regeneration is anyone’s guess, Whatever the case, it was, undeniably, utterly bizarre...