There has been a great deal of "spin" surrounding the trial of Cllr Paul Buchanan. As the "last woman standing" it would be inappropriate of me to make any personal comment. Instead I prefer to rely upon the eye-witness account of my trusted colleague, the former leader, Cathy Bakewell who attended all the hearings. Cllr Buchanan seems to believe that he has been exonerated by the Adjudication Panel. Cathy informs me that this was very definitely not the case. It may seem a puzzling anomoly of the system that no punishment or reprimand was given by the Adjudication Panel. After all if a Councillor breaks the Code of Conduct it would be reasonable to expect some kind of sentence. A rap over the knuckles, perhaps. A severe ticking off. Beatings with birch twigs, maybe. How about a public execution? But then Cllr Buchanan did not break the Code. Of course it is a matter of record that he was rude to certain members of staff. He always is. That's why we had to get rid of him and persuade Alan Jones to report him to the Standards Board on fifty different counts. Or was it sixty? Who cares. Its over now. We shut him up for two years and put an end to his political ambitions in Somerset. Now is not the time to dwell on these events. There are elections to be fought. Which means we have to be seen as thoroughly nice people rather than the ruthless ogres that we really are.(nb: Hi you lot in the office, would you mind awfully checking this posting before you put it up on my blog just in case I've left anything damaging in about that bastard Buchanan)
