Ellee Seymour

Sheep impressionist Robin Page

Robin Page, former TV presenter of One Man and His Dog, is one of life’s true eccentrics. He genuinely doesn’t care what people think about him.

Last week he made sheep impressions in mockery of Lib Dem colleagues at South Cambridgeshire District Council where he sits as an Independent councillor. He was no doubt mocking their demise, the poor little lost lambs.

Members of the cash strapped council were not amused and Coun Page was accused of behaving in a “silly and immature” way. The council is now represented only by Independent and Tory councillors.

When I used to report at their meetings, Robin was always one of the liveliest and challenging speakers and I would immediately perk up when he spoke, pen poised waiting for him to say something sensational, which he invariably did.

He runs a great, traditional farm and used to bring in reindeers each Christmas for the kids to see. I wonder what kind of noise they make.

Don’t change Robin, baa humbug to everyone else…

King’s Lynn’s debt ridden hospital

Now I really know we do have a Third World hospital in our midst.

Staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn - a stone’s throw from the royal residence in Sandringham - have been told to take their rubbish home to help save money.

This follows a reduction of bin collections from five times a week to one, albeit for non-clinical staff. The idea is to reduce smells and potentially nasty germs that might be lurking in the bins which could spread infection.

How gross is that? How can a hospital be allowed to run to such low standards? What does our Health Secretary say about this?

The QEH is struggling with debts of nearly £11m and warned of probable job cuts and bed closures this week.

It is hoped the bin scheme will help save more than £2,000 a year by cutting down on the need for cleaners and domestic support.

A union official has surprisingly backed the initiative. Ron Glazebrook, the hospital’s Unison representative, said:

“What they are asking is for people to take bins to central collection points instead of a domestic cleaner. It is saving thousands and it is not a huge hardship. The hospital has got hundreds of offices, and this will only affect non-clinical staff.�

I think the hospital’s stressed and overworked staff will just ignore this. I’m very surprised that the union is so compliant. Are our unions going soft?

Being tagged

As more shameful stories about about escaping foreign prisoners hit the headlines, it appears that more than half of our tagged offenders rip off their electronic device. We cannot even keep track of those we are supposed to monitor in order to protect the public.

Sacked former Home Secretary Charles Clarke’s local rag, the Eastern Daily Press, has reported how more than 1,5000 offenders removed their electronic tags, intended to closely monitor their whereabouts, over a nine month period last year in East Anglia alone, that is 59%.

These figures were uncovered by the EDP under the Freedom of Information Act and is further damning evidence of the Home Office’s gross ineptitude.

The Scotsman also reported earlier this year that more than than half of tagged offenders were breaching their orders too.

Charles Clarke must have been aware of this, he would be kept fully informed on all aspects his department is responsible for, so what action did he take to resolve it? Is John Reid going to do anything constructive about it?

And tagging does not necessarily deter further crimes being committed. In September 1999, a pregnant Peterborough woman was murdered by a 16-year-old who was electronically tagged after his early release from a young offenders’ institution.

Stephen Basson, who was jailed for life for the murder of Amanda Letch, was tagged when he carried out the killing. He admitted blasting the 24-year-old woman to death with a shotgun. The Peterborough ET reports Prisons Minister Hilary Benn expressing delight at the success of the scheme, saying it was a “real alternative to custody”.

There were 11,349 people in England and Wales subject to electronic tagging in January this year and it is the responsibility of contractors to follow strict Home Office requirements.

I would like to know why tags so easily removed and how often are offenders punished for removing them? If this is meant to be an alternative to prison, are they sent to prison for flouting the order and resentenced for the original crime?

Financial deductions can be imposed against monitoring contractors if they do not meet the required standards. What financial penalty has been imposed? And isn’t it a pity that same yardstick is not applied to Home Office failings for every time they lose a prisoner!

Nassir Ali Hatem - killed for wearing shorts

This national Iraqi tennis player wanted to help restore a sense a pride to his country by being a top sportsman. But tragically, he paid with his life - for wearing shorts.

Nassir Ali Hatem was with his coach Hussein Ahmed Rashid and fellow player Wissam Adel Auda when the gunmen struck.

Witnesses said that a Sunni militant group issued a warning a few days before the attack, forbidding the wearing of shorts.

The three had driven to a laundrette to drop off some washing when they were seized by the gunmen and cold bloodedly executed.

One cannot begin to imagine the agonising heartbreak and anguish the whole country must be feeling at this senseless slaying, the desperation of their fellow sportsmen whose futures are now undecided, their hopes of winning medals now dashed.

This picture of Nassir Ali Hatem was taken only a month ago. He was mentioned in a report about the struggles facing national sportsmen. It said:

“Over at the Iraq Hunting Club, on the western edge of the capital, Nassir Ali Hatam slashes across a dusty clay court and swats tennis balls over a tattered net.

“Defying the chronic bloodshed near them and the meager financial support from their erratic government, Iraq’s elite athletes are still trying to train for competitions at home and abroad.

” ‘I hope people around the world know that even though we’re in a bad situation here, we’re struggling for the progress of sports in Iraq,’ said Faleh Francis Yousif, a national Olympic Committee vice president.”