Published in the Littlehampton Gazette December 6th.2012

GAME SET AND REMATCH: It seems to me that when some local politicians are elected and local government officers appointed that they then take on some mysterious belief in a power that gives them the Divine right to rule. If unsure of one or any of their rulings, and the officers they appointed are unskilled enough to give guidance, they then have that same right to consult outsiders rather than the very people who elected them into office in the first place and to whom they should be answerable, not once every four years  but on a daily basis. Neither do their officers, in my experience, seem to understand that we pay their salary and that they are ‘public servants’ which, is exactly what they are, the clue being in the title. I suspect that the recent furore over the Maltravers Road tennis courts, the future in which I do have a very real interest, was in the main a lack of communication on their part coupled with this government’s insatiable appetite to either save money or make money from this or any other venture. Of course there is no excuse for rudeness or violence from either party but I do firmly believe we need more action groups who, working within the democratic framework, are able to stand up for themselves and put an end this shoddy superior attitude given over to the views of local people. My real sympathy however is for MIND a worthy organisation which, through no fault of its own, was caught in the middle of this mess.

THE NAMING OF THE BREW: A lady stopped me in a Littlehampton store recently and asked if I knew where the initials LA came from, letters now commonly used regarding the identity of our fair town. I told her that I believed it originated from a TV sketch in which Ronnie Barker, who lived locally for a while,  was telling a chum, possibly Ronnie Barker, he was going to LA for his annual holidays and the friend asking, “Los Angeles?” And Barker replying, “No, Little Ampton!”  If you know there to be another explanation I would love to hear it from you!