Tory local politicians go to pieces in the snow

Look what happens when you let the Tories take control...

From the Harborough Mail:

Harborough District Council has admitted leaving its icy car parks ungritted for 'health and safety reasons.'

The council said yesterday that it did not grit its car parks or other open spaces because of guidance from its health and safety and legal advisers ...

The issue was brought to the Mail’s attention by letter writer Julie Orgill-Higgins, of Sandringham Way, Harborough, after she complained to the council on Tuesday.

She said she was told by the council that if they gritted and someone then fell they could be sued, but if they left the areas completely untreated they could not.

What is the point of paying taxes if the council hides when its services are most needed?

It is notable that, though Tory politicians do a lot of moaning about the "health and safety" mind-set, they are no better at resisting it when they are in power.

In fact, they can be worse.

On Monday Boris Johnson, supposedly the Dangerous Politician for Boys who would sweep away all Ken Livingstone's political correctness (grants for lesbian street theatre workshops - you know the sort of thing), suspended all of London's bus services because snow was forecast.

Ken Livingstone says it has never happened before:

There has never been a day where the bus service has been cancelled for bad weather. Not in 100 years."

I have also heard Norman Baker on the radio saying that bus services kept running through the Blitz.


But show a modern Tory a bad weather forecast and he goes to pieces. Wet, weak and, er, something else beginning with "w".