Friday funday

The lighter side of local government

Environmental health don't take half measures
Or the wrong content in measures either at Westminster. Westminster City Council's Food Team busted a pub landlady for replacing branded spirits with the cheap stuff.

Councillor Audrey Lewis, Westminster City Council's Cabinet Member for Licensing and Community Protection, said: "When customers order drinks in any licensed premises we expect them to be given what they asked for and not some cheap alternative.

Darn right! I do have to admit to having done this once myself. I filled a Jack Daniels bottle with cheap supermarket bourbon to bolster the liquor table at a party. None of my guests drank it. But a friend of mine (and co-conspirator in the spirit switch) and I did end up drinking the cheap stuff by accident some time later. The next day we both ended up with the hangover of our lives.


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Friday funday

Something smells a little fishy

And it's a chippie!

A chip shop owner is being investigated - because of a complaint that his shop
smells of fish and chips, a council said today.

Of course, councils have to investigate such complaints as a spokeswoman for Wakefield Council pointed out. And they had to check that the proper extraction systems were installed and working properly.

She said: "The law states we have to investigate the complaint. "It is certainly not a case that fish and chip shops should not be allowed to smell of fish and chips."

The owner of the chippie was not quite so understanding of the council's requirements to check out the salty, vinegary odour.

Chip shop boss Steve Morton told The Sun newspaper he was shocked to receive a letter from environmental health staff which told him: "We are investigating a smell of fish and chips."

Mr Morton, 42, said the chip shop had been operating for 40 years without a problem. He said: "You'd think they'd twig that a fish and chip shop smells of fish and chips. It's absolutely crazy."

When we first came across this story in the office a colleague asked "What else would a fish and chip shop smell like?"

"I dunno," I said "Saveloy?"


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Friday funday

The lighter side of local public services

Put it right out
I've fairly recently quit smoking (just over a month ago) and I debated blogging about it here. Would making a public announcement make it easier to quit - or would I be a hostage to fortune? Well one councillor has made his decision pretty clear. As Nottinghamshire County Council declared a county wide smoking ban (including outdoors in country parks!), Councillor Chris Baron has press released his own smoking cessation. And he's going to blog about it on the council's intranet, too. Good for you Chris - and best of luck!


I can't imagine any better publicity
Ambulance trust warning over new horror movie


If you ever, ever doubted the importance of the trading standards team
Dodgy goods uncovered in London


This race is a dead heat
If you haven't heard - the Midterm elections are on in the US and will take place Tuesday November 7th. In these elections, Americans vote for Congressmen (members of the House of Representatives) who are elected whole-body every two years and in some states for Senator - they are elected by thirds every two years to six year terms. And to avoid wasting a ballot or opening a polling station on more than one day, many Americans are also voting in local elections, too -either in the general election next Tuesday or in the primaries which are held between March and October depending on the state.

Despite some high-profile races in the past, most US elections are straightforward, first past the post type deals. But one school board member (a county-wide rather than school-based post) won her race in a highly unusual way.

Katherine Dunton, who died of cancer on October 3, the day of the local election, was re-elected to the Aleutian Region School District board after her opponent, Dona Highstone, called "heads" on a coin toss that landed "tails," state and local officials said.

Lest you think this is the usual way....

"This is the first that I have ever heard about, not only in our state but in any other," said Whitney Brewster, director of the Alaska Division of Elections.

Democracy finds a way
Hawaiian Islanders whose trips to the poll were threatened by bad roads and an earthquake damaged road will have their ballots delivered to them by helicopter.




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