A By-election in Lickhill Ward, Calne or not?

Will there be a by-election in Lickhill Ward, Calne or not? I popped in to the Calne Town Council offices yesterday and asked in passing if they had heard anything about whether the ten letters needed to force a by-election had been received or not. Of course as loyal council employees they could divulge nothing but we did discuss and agree on the fact that it was unlikely the vast majority of the electorate in the ward even knew anything about it and if they did would be unlikely to put pen to paper to request that an election be held for a new councillor in preference to one being co-opted.

I find this absolutely astounding as I do when analysing election results and discovering that very rarely, certainly at local elections, do more than 35% of the electorate bother even to stir themselves to vote. Yet, every day you hear stories from people who are unhappy with this issue or that issue but seem not to want to do anything about it. Why is it that there is so much apathy and what will it take to stir this sleeping beast of a British public? It seems to me that only when things have gone too far will they rise up in a vain attempt to do something about it. Perhaps it has something to do with the fear they have of the powers that be, whoever they may be. There was an example of this earlier this week involving Nigel Hastilow, the Conservative party candidate for the Halesowen and Rowley Regis parliamentary constituency, who refused to apologise for declaring that Enoch Powell was right to make his famous Rivers of Blood speech in 1968. As a result of this he was summoned to a private meeting with his party chairman Caroline Spellman to explain his comments that had been reported in the Express and Star newspaper in Wolverhampton, but in refusing to withdraw his remarks he was subsequently forced to resign.

I am sure many people will agree that it is an absolute disgrace when it is apparently acceptable for David Cameron to now bang on about immigration having previously considered it an issue not to be touched. He then disciplines one of his merry men for adding his voice to the debate in suggesting that the issue was the one that the majority of the electorate were concerned about more than any other. If DC seriously thinks he is going to win the next election he needs to either swing one way or the other, not both.

DC will not find it hard to replace Nigel Hastilow, who should be commended for sticking to his guns, as a quick skim down the names on his A-list might throw something up for the good people of Halesowen and Rowley Regis. After all we were lucky enough in this area, to be blessed with the likes of The Black Farmer, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones! (Private note for later - how well would a range of meat products go if I started up a company and called it The White Farmer?)

Anyway, back to my initial point. Perhaps there is so much apathy as a result of the fear instilled in people by such acts as the forced resignation of Nigel Hastilow. The thought that whatever they say or do may be picked up on by those that would report them must be enough to ensure they just sit back and do nothing about their concerns. I seem to recall that this is how the authorities used to operate in Nazi Germany and look how that ended up. I still have faith that the sleeping giant will one day have had enough and rise up to destroy this politically correct monster that is denying us the freedom of speech that our country once fought so hard to protect - however time is running out.