This is what we'd like you to do next boys...

[DRiddle]

I think it was HBC CEO Dave Stubbs who apparently commented 'he was sick of The Hartlepool Post' setting the agenda within council.

Personally, I don't know what he's talking about. Well, not really. I mean, I can think of 3 or 4 things discussed on this forum, or ran as stories on the main page that very quickly turned into real live decisions by our councillors. Money was spent, meetings were held, tickets were booked, dignitaries met with, although I guess they weren't really major decisions.

The first one I noticed was when people on here discussed how HBC should spend the £100,000 'Portas money', given to us as a scrap as Stockton got the bulk of the cake. Apparently the money was set to go on consultants and signage telling us new things about the town centre and pointing us in the direction of where it was.  Forum contributors raised the idea of a series of markets involving log cabins in the style of the ones at Manchester's massive Christmas event. Low and behold a few weeks later, that happened (albeit it with log cabins totally not fit for purpose as they were more like garden sheds).

Secondly, there was a very detailed discussion on here about starting the process of meaningfully tackling the unemployment issues in the town by organising a meeting with all the major stakeholders. Low and behold a few weeks later 'senior councillors' (whoever they are) were at The Historic Quay doing exactly that. Some even made a point of flagging up they'd been planning the event for a year. Also, while I don't claim to be Sir Ronald Miller (You'll need to google that Stephen), CAB delivered a speech videoed by The Mail that should really have led to a plagiarism law suit from me. Again, that decision was totally messed up by trying to sneak out Labour Party propaganda during the meeting, over shadowing the true purpose of the event.

Thirdly, there's that trip to Portsmouth to see the Warrior and meeting with their councillors. They did manage to wait a whole 17 days before doing as they were told by forum members, although the whole thing did seem to resemble a jolly rather than anything meaningful for the town.

(There's also the story carried by the main site telling CAB to sack AW. He hung on for as long as possible but ultimately the 'a strong leader would sack her' psychology was too much of a temptation to not oblige).

So anyway, there's another idea I wanted to raise with forum members.

I've heard that there is some fantastic work in terms of regeneration going on in Helmand Province. Specifically in the city of Lashkar Gah. I've said a lot about 'what I would do' if I was in council (and attracted the attention of their 'attack dog' Paul Beck in the process). Well, if I was ceremonial mayor or leader I'd be straight on a plane to Helmand Province and be getting a bus to Lashkar Gah. I'm told the city looks best at night and an evening stroll around the Baba-e-Millat Park is a must do activity. Leaders could meet with Gulab Mangal, the current governor, and go on a public walk through the market areas with him. If I was mayor I'd wear the robes and the gold chain as I walked though the slum district and said hello to the locals. I think this ideas got some mileage in it...

Go on fellas, give it a go.

Enjoy your cornflakes.

[brassed off monkey]

If they do decide plagiarise this particular idea & tootle off to Afghan, would one of them have to wear a Burka ?