I get a number of emails that usually start Why don’t we publish……. or I’m surprised the Gloucestershire Portal didnt publish……. mostly regarding yob outrages.

Well, Gloucestershire of course has it’s fair share of yobs, but we arent a newspaper and if you are looking for sensational news, then the Citizen or Echo sites are probably your best bet. You may see the odd one or 2 posts on our boards, ususally because someone has been particularly outraged, but as I said we are not a newspaper.

What you will see are posts and articles of general interest, and events.

Tewkesbury Borough Council rejected an independent report that recommended their basic allowance should be cut by 41 per cent, from £9,000 to £5,296 pa.

Now, there is a surprise.

St Peter’s School Gloucester has upset parents by threatening to exclude some children from their last day of school if they misbehave.

The head should be given a big cheer, not criticism.

The annual turnout of cattle onto Minchinhampton and Rodborough commons in Gloucestershire has begun.

More than 400 animals will be put out to graze over the next few weeks, prompting warnings to motorists in the area to observe the 40mph speed limit.

Banners bearing the message: “We’re out now, moooove safely” have gone up at the entry points to the commons.

Councillor Stan Waddington said grazing of cattle was essential to preserve the “unique ecology” of the commons.

More on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7397876.stm 

Gordon brown claims he is now listening to us. Well, here is something that affects every one of us. At present the government is profiteering and making an extra £13m a day out of the recent fuel price rises.

Fuel costs are now about £5.00 a gallon, and most of that money goes straight to the treasury. It is a national disgrace.

If you are lucky enough to find petrol at  of a £1 per litre , here is where the money goes.  

• Petrol Fuel Duty - 48.35p
• VAT (17.5%) - 14.9p
• Refinery Petrol Costs - 31.75p
• Forecourt Costs - 3p
• Forecourt Profit - 2p

We have the results for Cheltenham :

Cheltenham Borough Council remains under no overall control after the local elections.

Half the seats (20 in total) in the council, which had been run by a minority Tory administration, were contested in the election.

The Lib Dems picked up three seats and now have 20 councillors. Labour lost its only seat.

Gloucester and Stroud are still being counted, but this looks like a disaster for Labour.

See :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/

 

The A417 dual carriageway drops to a single one at Nettleton Bottom, an area known locally as the “missing link”.  The county council wants a bypass around the bottleneck, but some locals are pushing for a tunnel.

But the government has said it is not ‘vital‘ enough to receive national or regional funding

The three-mile stretch of road regularly makes national travel headlines - causing massive congestion when it snows, when it’s icy, when there’s an accident, when there’s an overturned lorry.

“It’s the major trunk route for heavy goods vehicles travelling from mid-Wales, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, to Swindon, London and the south coast seaports.

Frankly this is long overdue.

1 May 2008 is local election day. For the first time in my life I have no one to vote for. I think that is a very sad reflection on the state of politics today, and an even sadder reflection on the candidates.

I have to admit that I really do think that anyone voting Labour now is barking mad. How on earth can you trust a part that claims to be the party of the poor, but then by removing the 10% rate collects billions of pounds from the poorest , just to give them back to the better off ?

Welcome to the new Gloucestershire Blog. This blog is all about the wonderful county of Gloucestershire. As well as leaving comments here, we do have a thriving set of bulletin boards at http://www.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/boards/