Well here we are at the start of a brand new year. Let’s hope it’s better than 2018. What a year that was.

We never knew what was around the corner did we?

Cheshire East Council won the Private Eye Filthy Liars of the Year Award. A bit harsh I thought considering how few managers it had left after its suspension spree.

Council leader Rachel Bailey certainly deserved an award for the number of times she cited ‘historic issues’ for each and every blunder her council made throughout the year.

Cheshire Police should have won an award for the record number of council ‘investigations’ it had to deal with. One had to wonder if the constabulary had any officers left for normal policing.

Clearly we don’t know precisely what the New Year will bring but we do know that come May 2, all seats on Cheshire East Council will be up for grabs.

Do make a note of this election date as it’s the only chance you will have to express an opinion. (I’m guessing you won’t want to miss it).

In the 20 years I have been observing and commenting on our local council, I have never had so many angry, incensed and disappointed readers contacting me in sheer frustration.

May 2 will be your day to opt for more of the same...or not.

ARISE SIR MONEYBAGS

In the real Honours List, it’s good to see individuals who have dedicated their lives to the wellbeing of others receive some recognition.

What we don’t want to see is the doling out of honours to highly paid civil servants for simply doing their jobs.

There seems little point in awarding honours to those who have already been rewarded by fame and fortune for doing what they do best.

I doubt Mick Jagger’s Knighthood was earned by his selfless dedication to the underprivileged.

There exists serious doubts about the veracity of the selection process given some of the Knighted shysters exposed in recent years. It didn’t take much digging to uncover their megalomania.

You may recall the response of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders who in 2001 turned down their OBEs saying: “We felt we were being paid very well to have a lot of fun. We didn’t deserve a pat on the back.”

Good on you ladies.

A little more honesty would go a long way to ensuring only those who have made deep and dedicated sacrifice to the less fortunate (without personal gain or career enhancement) receive awards.

HOW SERIOUS ARE WE ABOUT SAVING THE PLANET?

I’m still unsure how serious we are about saving the planet.

It appears we like the idea until it impacts on us.

Unsurprisingly politicians are the most hypocritical, waving their eco flags only until it inconveniences them.

I’ve never seen any politician choosing to fly economy to reduce their eco footprint.

I’ve heard a lot of global stars of stage and screen banging on about saving the planet just before they board a private jet to their luxury holiday home.

(Top politicians usually use someone else’s holiday home).

It was highlighted during 2018 that cattle and sheep were to blame for the production of methane gasses.

A government committee on climate change CCC recommended the UK cut its reliance on sheep and cattle by a fifth to a half.

Interesting idea that.

The next report I want to see is the reduction of meat consumption in the Palace of Westminster.

Sometimes you have to lead by example.

Neither do government ministers want to tackle the packaging problem head-on with large corporations, far easier to stick 10p on a supermarket bag than deal with the issue at source.

It’s called following the line of least resistance.

Not long ago we had an army of thousands devoted to cleaning up the planet.

Schoolchildren who scoured the streets, parks and alleyways for bottles they could return to local shops for the deposit.

This army of ‘contractors’ cost the government absolutely nothing. It was the perfect form of recycling.

We also had an armada of electric vehicles (no pollution) carrying milk to our doorstep.

We simply left the empty bottles out for collection and the recycling process was complete.

So what happened?

Supermarkets changed the game and politicians just sat on their thumbs and watched it happen.

They didn’t care enough to challenge the big corporate players.

They allowed them to rewrite the rules.

Now everyone is blowing the eco trumpet but no one wants to pay the price.

Nobody wants to fly coach if they can fly first class.

No meat eater actually wants a nut roast in place of a fillet steak.

We’re not going to let our kids to walk to school instead of us dropping them off at the gate or take family holidays in Filey instead of Florida to reduce our carbon footprint.

Some will, of course, but not the millions of people needed to fundamentally make a difference.

I stopped eating meat and drinking imported wine six years ago and guess how many of my friends followed my example?

I’ll give you a clue...it’s less than one.

You can contact Vic by email at vicbarlow@icloud.com.