A GOOD REASON NOT TO VOTE

THERE is much debate about why turn-out in elections, particularly local elections, is so low. For an answer, one only has to look at the childish nonsense recently at Richmond Town Council where lawyers have been consulted about who has the right to sit where in the council chamber.

One member ended up sitting in the gallery - from where he was not legally able to contribute to the meeting until it went into public session - and there is talk of human rights infringements. Surely, an expensive trip to the European Court is out of the question, but the council's officers - paid by local tax-payers to sort out local problems - are to waste valuable hours studying the seating plan.

The councillors in question don't seem to realise that it matters not a jot where they park their bottoms - only what comes out of their mouths is important.

Having seen this example of local democracy in full debating action, it would be perfectly understandable if the people of Richmond never bothered to vote for a single one of them ever again.

WOMAN'S RIGHTS

SOME rights, though, are worth fighting for. The Ministry of Defence is being frighteningly old-fashioned in denying a widow's pension to the long-standing partner of North Yorkshire SAS trooper Brad Tinnion.

Anna Homsi was his girlfriend for ten years and when he died - during the rescue of six kidnapped British soldiers in Sierra Leone last year - she was pregnant with their daughter. She was also the chief beneficiary in his will.

In modern society, whether we like it or not, there is no longer the desire to demonstrate commitment to one another by signing a legally correct piece of paper. Trooper Tinnion was clearly committed to Ms Homsi, just as he was committed to his country.

In fact, he sacrificed his life for his country - now his country must support the woman, and their nine-months-old child, who to all intents and purposes is his widow.

DELIVERY SERVICE

A LONDON woman who went into labour in a supermarket is to name her new son Sainsbury because she is grateful to the staff who helped her. It's fortunate for the newborn child that he didn't begin his arrival in Poundstretcher - but then, they don't do deliveries.