This a table of how the parties fared in the local elections.

It seems pretty clear to me that the big losers were the Conservatives and UKIP. Labour not so much. On the other hand I am not a  psephologist, so what do I know.

The winners were the Lib Dems, Greens and Independents.

Possibly I’m interpreting the figures in a very biased way. But they don’t strike me as being as what one would expect if there were a pro-Brexit vote. After all, the two big winners – the Lib-Dems and the Greens – are anti Brexit. Of course, it’s impossible to determine the views of the many successful independents.

Having said that, national politics shouldn’t rear its ugly head at the local level , but it does.

The things that I heard most complaints about whilst campaigning (e.g. parking, inappropriate over-development, the state of the roads) can be laid squarely at the door of central government. Planning policies set by central government have largely determined parking spaces that new builds have to provide. Changes to parking restrictions (yellow lines for example) are, to a very large extent, determined by available funding. Of course, there is also no money to maintain roads.

According to the Local Government Association local councils would have lost almost 60% of their central government funding between 2010 and 2020.

The other big issue was (as ever) dog poo. Apparently it’s a big problem in South Molton. Has it always been a big issue? Are dogs starting to poo more ? Fewer owners picking up? Or, as I rather suspect, are there a few more owners who don’t give a damn!

This is what Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State said at the Arctic Council accord in Finland:

“Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade,” he said. “This could potentially slash the  time it takes to travel between Asia and the West by as much as 20 days.”

He’s quite right of course. But forgets to mention the many downsides: the flooding of much of the East coast of the States (and many other coastal cites around the world), the disappearance of many Pacific Island nations.

On the plus side Mar-a-Lago would disappear under water. Unfortunately Trump with his Yuuuuuuge brain would probably survive.

South Molton – Twelve Seats 

South Molton – Three Seats

Polling has now closed. So if you wanted to vote I’m afraid that you’ve now unfortunately lost your chance 🙁

Just starting South Molton now, at 14:40 – over an hour late!

Sitting in the Cedars Hotel conference suite waiting for the South Molton part of the Local Plan Examination to start.
Scheduled to start at half past one but it’s just started at ten past two!
Not an auspicious beginning!

A good piece in today’s Guardian on the proposed cuts in NHS services in North Devon.

The full article can be read here.

I received the above email this morning.

It had me worried for a moment, but then I realised it must be some form of scam.

It purports to ben e-mail from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). But if you look at the e-mail address it came from (circled in red at the top) it becomes clear that the e-mail certainly didn’t come from the CPS. Their e-mail addresses would be in the form xxxx@cps.gsi.gov.uk  and they don’t send e-mails to the general public.

Further clues to the fact that this is not a genuine e-mail can be seen in the other outlined areas.

Something is either mandatory or it isn’t. No native English speaker would use the expression “extremely mandatory”.

The CPS would also almost certainly talk about a “witness summons” rather than a subpoena. Particularly given that the use of Latin phrases in the English (and Welsh) legal systems has been phased out.

County Courts generally only deal with civil matters which wouldn’t involve the CPS.

Both the domain of the sender’s e-mail address and the link that the “Start Time and Case Details” button refers to are registered to an individual who lives in Belarus. This person uses a Gmail address for their contact details.

Hardly likely to be an e-mail from a government department.

I’ve reported it to both the police and the CPS.

One of the advantages of using a laptop rather a smartphone for reading e-mail is that it’s easier to spot such scams.

For example, the dodgy e-mail address doesn’t appear on an iPhone. However it can easily be seen when using a mainstream e-mail programme (e.g. Outlook) on a laptop. Similarly the dodgy link can’t be seen on the smartphone but can be seen when using Outlook on a laptop. Just ‘hovering’ the cursor over the link shows what the web link actually is.

Voting to leave the EU is effectively a one-way ticket.

If we vote to Remain we could still leave some time in the future.

A Leave vote is essentially a one-way ticket.

The only good thing about a vote to Leave would be the chance that it might shut up Farage and his ilk.

Unfortunately I suspect that wouldn’t be the case, and we’d be left with a different version of his toxic politics and would lose peace, power and prosperity.

“Twas brillig, and the slithy goves.
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borisgoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe”

A vote for Leave leads us into fantasy land.