The saga of our council leader’s trip to South Africa is continuing to occupy the attention of the local press, and this week’s installment is particularly amusing.   The visit was part of some sort of training, and I think its safe to say that  whether Bob Lanzer learned anything on the visit he has certainly learned a lot about public perceptions since he returned.

Previously there was criticism of spending taxpayers’ money on foreign travel, and whether the crime problems in that particular area are really comparable to those in Crawley.  This week the attack was from an ecological perspective, when Geraint Thomas asked a question from the public gallery at the last council meeting.

Geraint’s point was that travelling such a long distance by air, for dubious benefit, is not setting a good example, and he asked whether the council would be doing any sort of  carbon offsetting.  Bob Lanzer’s reply included this wonderful quote:

You are focussing on one trip and there were several taken by different council workers.

Which is a bit like saying “why are you making such a fuss about me drowning a puppy? I also drowned several kittens”  Its almost a variation on the Nicholas Soames get-out-of-jail free trump card response.

The Nicholas Soames G.O.O.J.F.T.C. cropped up last week.  He was being criticised for going off to follow the Crawley and Horsham Hunt ((which is bad enough on its own as far as I am concerned)) on a quad bike which was not taxed or insured and had no licence plate, and which was also pulling a trailer containing a couple of unrestrained children.  His responses to this illegal accident waiting to happen were to plead ignorance of laws which are just basic common sense and to later say to the Mid-Sussex Times:

Held up against global warming and Darfur, this is hysterical nonsense…The children were perfectly safe, and were being held onto…They think they can latch onto anyone in the public eye, and blow things out of all proportion.

Brilliant!  Following that logic you can do whatever the hell you want and if its less serious than genocide or destruction of the planet ((and most things are)) its not worth making a fuss about it.  I would be interested to see the reaction if Soames caught someone breaking into his house to steal all his pies and they said “its nothing compared to Darfur, why do you want to go and call the police?”