More rubbish from the Eurocrats

THE FRIDAY THING: IN the bad old days before any of us had ever heard of Eric Pickles, households each had one bin, which was emptied by the bin men .

I don’t recall any problems with nasty smells and vermin; maybe we just didn’t eat or drink as much as we do now. A beneficial side effect, perhaps, of being poor.

Certainly the fortnightly, rather than weekly, emptying of bins didn’t seem to be an issue.

There was no real evidence of people throwing rubbish in the streets or even next door’s garden.

But another change in the collection round is on the cards and we are promised (or possibly threatened with) bin collections once every three weeks.

Where will you put your excess rubbish when that barmy idea brings smells, rats and mice to us all?

The Eurocrats have come up with an idea (daft, but then it is from Europe) saying that we should all have six bins to fill with waste, from the food we don’t like or burn to the content of babies nappies.

Anything less than a weekly collection presents smells, health hazards and the possibility of bin wars when folk use their neighbours’ bins because their own are full.

Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis (and no, I’ve never heard of him either) says the move towards near-monthly bin collections is a sign of the blinkered view of municipal bureaucrats who don’t see rubbish collections as a vital service for families. Makes you wonder what their houses and gardens must look; perhaps they have their own EU rubbish mountains?

Our friend Eric Pickles, the bins’ only real friend, has long argued that weekly collections of rubbish are a “fundamental right” but what we don’t know is how big Eric will view the European Union rules that will legally force households to separate all rubbish for recycling.

Perhaps we should all get ourselves some high-tech suits, gloves and helmets and turn rubbsh sorting into a game for the kids.


FINAL WORD: I must pay a huge tribute to the many hundreds of students who have done remarkably well in examinations over the last few days.

They are the stars of the summer months: pupils and the teachers whose commitment and dedication to the borough’s youngsters is setting them on the path to successful careers.

Everyone involved, including parents, should be proud of what has been achieved. Well done everybody.