Roger

Statistically these sort of events are uncommon and I've no doubt the usual reassurance messages will soon emanate from the authorities but it's a sad fact that if anyone is walking along the lines or river paths in the dark, on their own, then there is every chance that something unpleasant might happen. RIP Christian Bagley.

New York Post article seems to point to this stuff happening in the last 2 or 3 years.

Good point. Tories walked that in Wormside with Jon Johnson beating a split vote. I don't think the leaflet would have had a material impact myself. But splitting the vote with two viable candidates against a Tory (in Herefordshire) will get what you got!

I accept fully what you are saying. 27 official marks not showing in Widemarsh but nil in the College would point to a faulty device or a faulty Polling Officer. In my view. The chance of fraud there is unlikely.

Kings Acre was won by 19 votes, Saxon Gate by 19 votes and Widemarsh by 23 votes. Mysteriously in Widemarsh there were 27 votes thrown out because of no official mark on the paper. What's that all about? In the neighbouring ward (College) no votes were missing an official mark.

The Council seem to be doing more grass cutting in high profile areas in 2015 (Victoria St an example) in order to do well in this sort of competition. I was down Yazor Road yesterday as well and that large field was freshly mowed and the cuttings appeared to have been collected. Meanwhile Churchill Gardens is looking pretty rough. Totally overgrown.

How long have you got to listen about how you could rig that? System is fundamentally flawed. I would never have a postal vote for that reason. I think that only a small sample of postal votes are matched against signature records. And this is what the Electoral Commission says about that: I know it's a thorny subject but also in Muslim areas there will be patriarchal structures and male dominated cultures whereby there will not be much of a free choice of where the X goes for certain women.

Plus the word censor just removed the word 'f@gggot' from my post above ...

I hope the new people retain the chicken curry/chips in a tray. Also the faggot/peas/gravy/chips in a tray. But they got to seriously improve on the chips compared to the last lot who let it slip ... The photo is out of date but that pair of premises at the junction are still looking like a disgrace. Just unloved and uninviting. And dirty. I dunno what is actually happening at The Palace but it must be the slowest renovation project ever ...

Alan Williams obviously got out at the right time. The last bag of chips I had from there I had to throw in the bin. The new owner did sandwiches in that end section for a while. They were OK but nothing above average. Have business rates sunk this chip shop? From the photo it does not look a very attractive proposition to take over.

So basically stuff that any normal Council Tax payer would expect the Council to do! In the big scheme of things how hard is it to sweep out a vacant shop doorway when you are in the area anyway? I'm against a 'deep clean' as that description builds cost into the operation. After the 'clean' the ablutions and vomit would soon build up again anyway. Just a regular 'jet wash' of vacant shop doorways/fronts is my offering. Minimal cost.

Total joke! Derek Tremlett was in court again last week [link] for Booze related antics: The Magistrates forgot, or ignored, his October 2014 appearance at the same venue [link] when he was given a sort of two year ASBO type order for the same sort of boozy behaviour: The interesting point is the address change. Last year Derek Tremlett was from Moreton-on-Lugg .... Now he is 'of Springfield Ave, Hereford' .... What, or who is paying for, that accommodation? Obviously the Magistrates are not attaching a great deal of weight to Jim Mooney's observations! He's had 'plenty of chances' but obviously nowhere near enough! The old propaganda was that you got five years behind bars for breaching ASBO's but in fact the beaks are bending over backwards to dish out next to nothing.

I'm a realist and it's here. I still haven't been tho. It's easily within walking distance of where I live but I know what's there and nothing has really made me think that I need to go to it. Exactly. Just generic stuff you could visit anywhere. Loads of people have. Long gone are the day's when if you lived in The Shire you rarely, if ever, strayed beyond the County boundary. When HUFC was on the ropes people were saying it should be flattened and an ice rink should be built. Is there this vast pool of unserviced local people who are travelling miles to go to the nearest rink? I don't think so. A decent cinema is pretty much a standard requirement for a City and I don't think anyone disputes that the old one was not fit for purpose. I looked at the cost of a couple going next Friday evening at the new place. It's £9.30 each for one film and you will no doubt end up buying the popcorn. So probably £30 total. I get the romantic angle of a couple of young people going to the movies but Netflix is £5.99 a month for a room full of people to watch wall to wall films (for that month) on their tv. Which increasingly is some monster sized HD/3D gadget slung across a whole wall ... That's the only thing that's grabbed my attention recently. I will deffo go and have a look. My son is down this weekend and I'll ask if he fancies going ...

The Council 'Noise Nuisance' page advises complainants to use their online contact form (where an image can be attached if applicable) or ring 01432 261761. Presumably the line won't be staffed when noise is going on but that's as good as it's going to get. But they do aim to respond to at least 90 per cent of complainants within five working days by letter, telephone or by visiting your property. Has anyone on here ever used this? You read all the time in the papers of people having stereos seized etc. Admittedly I haven't seen stuff about round here but the powers are there. I'm sure ragwert's relatives aren't remotely interested where these nuisance neighbours end up ~ as long as they get hoofed out of Villa Street. Maybe it's someone else's turn to live next door to them?

Why can't this basic work be done by people sentenced to Community Service? It's safe work at ground level in a pedestrian zone. I know it's tidying up neglected private property but it's a bigger picture than that. I dunno what a 'deep clean' involves but what's wrong loosing off a jet washer in those doorways and washing the grime down a drain?

The UK population went up +300k at the last count (year figure) via legitimate EU travel. Italy has suffered from an influx of boat people from Africa but that figure is far less. I haven't looked up the Italy net population increase over a year period tho. I am first to agree that it is an absolutely dreadful situation that seems to have no obvious end.

I can't see a Mediterranian style crossing of the Channel ever happening. Are you on about 3 men in a boat or serious numbers?

I would make contact with the concerned neighbours and get them to diarize events over the next month and contact the Ward Councillor with some collated written evidence of anti-social behaviour.

This is all very complicated GK ... As you will know .... I get the general feeling that the vote would go to stay in if it was held at the moment (hence the concession today involving the vote not being on May 5 next year to appease the EuroSceptics in Parliament ~ with the Govt. winning today on their ballot stuff in Parliament after a blanket Labour abstention). Trade issues are very important but I think the Man/Woman in the street is going to vote on the 'Free Movement' issue within the EU. The arrivals/departures are + 300k per year for arrivals at the last count. They are not a drain on benefits (as Cameron is focusing on) but they are having multiple other impacts. Plus I don't think it's right that you can move here with a clean slate having just finished your Murder term of imprisonment last week in some obscure EU Country ....

Update: To cut a long story short they appear to have started work on my machine today. Done all the work you would expect but then found a warped carburettor that was basically the cause of the spluttering as it was letting in air through a gap that shouldn't be there. I went down and saw the mechanic and he appeared very genuine. He ordered the £18 part (not on their shelf unfortunately) but he missed the cut off for the one day delivery for tomorrow so very possibly Thursday for a resolution.

Note Machine appear to offer a regular 'no charge' withdrawal.

Marc Willimont has tweeted that the Planning Committee have approved that application today. The intention from the planning application is to relocate Broadlands Primary School to within Aylestone School itself. Reducing pupil numbers at both schools has allowed this to happen.

This is a major issue for me. I tuned in previously because it was local and friendly. Shaun Tilley took over at Sunshine and he's definitely not local. I'm surprised he was even able to find Hereford on the map. He's awarded himself a broadcasting slot every day of the week from his position of power. In fact 33 hours in total. So a huge number of hours of a non local guy. He's got an impressive CV if you look at the big stations he's worked at in the past but I doubt the local listeners are remotely interested in that. Talking of interest I'm confused as to why Shaun Tilley would want to work at Sunshine if you look at his previous jobs. It's rather like going from coaching a Premiership football side to coaching in the Vauxhall Conference. Also bearing in mind Shaun Tilley's vast expertise, then why is the website out of date quite often? And why is Sunshine's Tunein radio stream still indicating that Ian Davies is still broadcasting 14-19 ? And the Jeff Collins Rock pops up once a week as still being on air! Just amateurish. I dunno how Sunshine monitor their listening figures. I don't think they use Rajar. Regarding DAB/FM I think it would be fairly typical for the average listener to be using a standard device like they sell in supermarkets. Just a box with a mono speaker sat on the kitchen counter or shelf. I think the quality via that is fairly similar for both FM and DAB. Everyone owns a smartphone tho. You can get thousands of radio stations on those. Just send the signal to a decent speaker system. Or plug it into the car sound system. Lots of cars have that capability. I echo that!

Good Morning! If I wanted to 'bump' a topic I'd reply to it and cut out the 'consideration' hurdle .... I think your Moderation is top drawer by the way ....