Name and address supplied

Another great letter from the Axminster Carpets' Propaganda Department, sorry, 'Name and Address Supplied', in this week's Pulman's 'We'll print virtually anything' View from Axminster.

Axminster is already one of the most affordable places to live in East Devon. Any notion that Axminster Carpets' scheme for 400 new houses will further improve that is entirely fanciful - will the seemingly ever-benevolent loomers be offering 2 bed houses at time-warp prices of sixty or seventy grand?

I think not.

Affordable housing in the town already exists - trouble is, with the banks not dishing out mortgages like they used to, or as they should, first-timers can no longer afford them. That's something only the banks can sort out. Not dear ol' Axminster Carpets. Bless 'em.

Hold the front page

I’m never quite sure whether I should rejoice, or not, in the fact that very little seems to happen in Axminster. On the one hand, I’m obviously glad that there aren’t any gangland shootings, but on the other, I’m convinced the local paper – the snappily titled Pulman’s View from Axminster – can find more newsworthy items to fill its front pages. Recently, we’ve had big headline, front page stories about a stolen plant pot (seriously), a cracked paving slab, and the other week another non-story – a former mayor (rather strangely) supporting Axminster Carpets’ hugely unpopular attempt to build 400 homes on a green field site to the North of the town.

Now, I'm not sure anyone would care what the current mayor thinks, no offence to whoever he is, let alone one from seven years' ago. Nonetheless, the paper reported: "Mervyn Symes, who served as mayor from 2001-2003, believes it would be a missed opportunity for the town if the development doesn’t go ahead."

Hmmm.

Personally, I'm struggling to see how simply building a new housing estate - bringing 1000-ish additional residents and (most importantly) very little in the way of any new infrastructure - represents a great bit of business for the town. Maybe it's similar to Tesco's (cough) 'regeneration' of Seaton?

Best of all, Symes also went on to say: “I accept that Axminster desperately needs a new relief road but sadly this will not happen for many years."

Nope, it probably won't with people like you - and the clowns at East Devon District Council - supporting a rival scheme to the one promising a new relief road.

Some people just really don't get it.

Seeing red

Why is it that - no matter what time of day you are travelling, and from what direction - the traffic lights at Weycroft Mill, on the outskirts of Axminster, are always, always, ALWAYS on red?

Reffing hell!

Amazing how football supporters spend hours - often quite rightly - criticising the standard of English referees, but when one of them - Howard Webb - takes charge of a World Cup Final, and puts in a less than faultless performance, suddenly everyone in the country rushes to his defence.

Vote rugging

Judging by the letters' pages in the local press over the past couple of weeks, it appears that Axminster Carpets have rallied their troops, with us being constantly reminded of how generous the company has been to the town over the years, as a way of justifying their plans to build 50 zillion houses (or something like that) on what is probably the largest expanse of green fields within a 5 minute stroll of the town centre.

It's true that the town's history contains many, many examples of the company's generosity, but that was under different management - with a new, young MD in charge, this latest plan smacks more of getting rich quick rather than their usual benevolence.

Patriot games

Unusually for a football fan, I'm not that keen on the World Cup. It's not just that everyone suddenly becomes a football fan, it's more the sight of people rushing out to buy cheap plastic flags of St. George (made in China) to then strap, patriotically, onto their foreign cars... without the slightest hint of irony.

Yet if I stuck a German flag on my British car, I'd be considered deeply unpatriotic.

Yellow peril

Interesting that Nick Clegg apparently refused to work with Gordon Brown on that basis that the former PM had been resoundingly rejected by the electorate. Given that Clegg managed to bag even less seats than the paltry number his party gained at the previous election, Gordon Brown's 'unpopularity' is the sort of popularity that Clegg can only dream about.

But, now that he's virtually running the country, I don't suppose he's too bothered.

Funny old game, Politics.