One of the least pleasurable aspects of the Broadfield Forum is the poisonous presence of a couple of miserable old gits who never miss a meeting. I am sure they are the only people who have never missed a single one.

I am not naming names. Anyone who has ever been will know exactly who I am talking about, and I am positive that their domination of the meeting combined with their relentless moaning about anything and everything is the reason so many people over the years have been to one meeting and never returned.

Imagine if an alchemist took a pile of old copies of the Daily Mail, made papier mache homunculi out of them and then breathed life into them and that is what you would get – the Daily Mail personified. They have an opinion on everything and its usually either “I don’t like it” or “everything used to be better”.

My unfortunate colleagues, ex-colleagues, opponents , staff from the council and police are all paid one way or another to be polite and not tell the pair to shut up and give us all a rest, and those who are elected members are bound by a code of conduct specifically to not do that. Having no such restrictions its only by a painful exertion of willpower and regard for good manners I have resisted the temptation to make some comments about giving the rest of the meeting a break.

I can only believe that anyone who finds so much to complain about must surely be going out looking for things to object to, in the same way that Mary Whitehouse used to actively seek out sources of offence.

It may just be that I am long overdue a holiday and need to seriously unwind, but judging by the rolling eyeballs around the room I don’t think I am alone on my opinions.

</RANT>