At last the local elections are here – a true time for celebration. While we at The MJ are political voyeurs, it is not the results of the elections we have been waiting for. In the middle of a third term of the Government, and local government swinging away from the party in power – how much excitement can that muster? We are also all news junkies here and, at last, the nationals are likely to stop running ridiculous stories about council ‘spies'. Local political bun-chucking aside, I for one, thoroughly support councils snooping, spying and generally enforcing on my behalf. First, we had the supposedly ‘shocking' news of a council ‘snooping' on families suspected of lying to get their child into their preferred school. Cue the indignant parents, who were appalled at the behaviour of the council. Am I missing something here? Aren't councils supposed to ensure school places go to those who are entitled to them? And if parents hadn't started lying and cheating to beat the system, education services wouldn't have become suspicious. Or how about the most recent shocker – councils have apparently been using their surveillance powers to catch people who persistently fail to clear up after their dogs. Good. Hands up who remembers the 1970s? Back to the good old days when walking down the pavement was somewhat akin to performing TV's Krypton Factor physical challenge. Hopping over dog faeces was never my idea of fun – perhaps Daily Mail readers have fonder memories than I do. Streetscene services are absolutely vital to the reputation of local authorities, so they should be doing everything in their power to stop persistent offenders. Yet, it is councils which are getting the hard time in the media. By the middle of next week the press will have moved on and opposition parties will stop flinging the mud. Aside from stories about PM Gordon Brown failing at a local level, we shall be back to only seeing local government stories about council tax – and, of course, the occasional Taxpayers' Alliance story. Now, any chance we can put people who spit their chewing gum on the ground into prison for 28 days?
