Lovely couple: lovely day

On Saturday, June 5, we all trooped to sunny Sherborne to celebrate the marriage of our news editor Laura Thorpe to Guy Briggs, a charming and handsome chap who works for Mendip District Council.
Mind, Laura herself is better looking than most of us in the office. But, more important, she exudes an air of imperturbable calm which is invaluable in a busy newsroom.
Panic? She does not know the meaning of the word and looked typically calm on her big day, which they had been feverishly planning since becoming engaged last year.
As Guy is a man, Laura was delightfully surprised when previously unsuspected romantic notions suddenly seized him while they were on holiday in Italy and he slid gracefully on his knees to propose.
Sadly Guy had to change the intended and less public venue to a pizza parlour as Laura was hungry, and none of the other diners appeared to notice as he uttered the eternal words. They must have been Italians.
Their wedding itself was blessed with glorious sunshine and followed by a bibulous reception in the lush landscaped gardens of Sherborne Castle.
Guy’s brother was best man and in his speech tried hard but could find no significant skeletons in Guy’s almost blameless past.
The only difficulty occurred as Laura gracefully glided down the aisle, only to be abruptly halted in her tracks by the flowergirl standing on her train.
Philip Welch

Lord Pearson and the UKIP embargo

Lord Pearson of Rannoch left me in a difficult position last week.
He phoned me on the Tuesday in his role as leader of the UK Independence Party to offer the Mid Somerset Series an exclusive statement asking the electorate in the Wells, Somerton & Frome and Taunton Deane constituencies to vote Conservative rather than for his own party, on the basis that we would not publish in the paper or on our websites before the Thursday.
I agreed and Lord Pearson emailled me the statement in letter form on the Tuesday afternoon.
So I was surprised the next morning to see a BBC reporter revealing Lord Pearson’s extraordinary position in a broadcast from Wells Cathedral Green on their nationwide BBC1 Breakfast programme.
His report featured interviews with four of the Wells candidates, including the Conservative who has taken considerable flak over his expenses and was delighted by Lord Pearson’s intervention.
UKIP’s candidates and supporters felt angry and betrayed.
So we watched our exclusive on BBC television. Then saw it copied by BBC radio and ITV, all two days before our newspapers were published.
But we could do nothing. We could have had the story on our website within minutes of the BBC broadcast on the Tuesday morning but we had agreed to the Thursday embargo.
Anyway, the Mid Somerset Series would not presume to advise anyone on how to vote but I do think it is a valuable right not to be wasted.
Philip Welch

You never stop worrying about your children

Parents cannot help worrying about their children. It is only natural, although sometimes the chances of harm coming to our offspring are less than we fear.
For example, the risks of being beaten up in the street or molested by a paedophile in mid-Somerset are much more unlikely than many people think.
Nevertheless, good parents must warn their children of the different dangers they face as they grow: from hot liquids, electricity and strangers when they are little, to drink, drugs and dodgy driving as teenagers.The worrying diminishes as your children learn and (hopefully) accept responsibility, but never vanishes.
My daughter is 18 now and determined to become an actress. We have talked about how this is precarious work with the expectation of frequent unemployment and a dearth of roles for older women.
But if that is her vocation, as a parent you should be grateful she knows what she wants to do and you must support her to the hilt.
Still, the unease persisted until Sunday night when we saw her in a brilliant performance of Calamity Jane at the Egg, the youth auditorium of Bath’s Theatre Royal.
Were we proud? You bet.
We only hope that our young actors, musicians, singers and dancers get the support they deserve from full houses, and their contemporaries prefer live performance to banal television and the isolated pleasures of video games.
Philip Welch

Please don't waste your vote

At last, the General Election date has been announced and every adult has a valuable right to exercise – the right to vote.
Sadly, large numbers of people are saying they cannot be bothered to use their right and this apathy is democracy’s greatest enemy.
They have forgotten how their ancestors fought against tyrannical kings and abusive nobility to win the freedom to elect their rulers, and the fairer, healthier and more rewarding lives which followed as a direct result of the struggle.
The excuses for not voting are feeble and range from “all politicians are the same”, to “my vote won’t make any difference”, and the pathetic cop-out, “I’m not interested”.We get the politicians we deserve.
The more interest we show now, the better the candidates for election we are likely to get in the future.
As for “my vote won’t make a difference”, they all count and add up to a collective decision. People who claim not to be interested in their schools, NHS, environment and taxes would have different opinions if they had lived somewhere without democracy – like Hitler’s Germany, Soviet Russia or modern day Burma. And lets not forget the Suffragettes who campaigned fiercely for women's right to vote.
Our policies remain the same. Your local paper will not presume to advise readers on who to vote for, but I do hope you will vote for someone.
Philip Welch

Advice for young Romeos

There is a distinct lack of love in the world so we should celebrate what we have.
Valentine’s Day must be the natural time to express more than usual affection to your wife, husband or partner, but its commercial ramifications have got out of hand.
Taking out a mortgage would be necessary to buy all the range of Valentine gifts on offer each year.
We men are used to happily giving a carefully chosen card, chocolates and a dozen roses at twice the usual price. Perhaps a little perfume or scented soap too.
But nowadays we are pressured by advertising into buying a cornucopia of other goods like champagne, personalised mugs, personalised underwear, iPods, iPhones, iPads, silver lockets, fluffy pets, Valentine’s Day crackers, biscuits, soft toys, virtual roses by email and long weekend breaks at exotic foreign hotels.
We seem to be copying North American trends in the same way we have allowed Mothers Day and Fathers Day to become commercial spendfests.
I know parents across the pond who give Valentine’s Day cards and presents to their children. I thought it was meant to be a time for romance.
Next we will give flowers, chocolates and soppy cards to our pet dogs, cats and gerbils.
May I offer advice to young Romeos: for cost-effective and successful romancing just make her laugh, preferably not when you take off your clothes.
Philip Welch

We can learn from the Americans

We should be grateful for the entertainment provided by Americans.
So many smiles have been aroused by the cartoon caricature of the overweight Texan tourist in shorts with a stetson shielding his red face, and a costly camera bouncing gently off a steak-fed belly.
Sadly, such visitors have become all too rare in Somerset following 9/11 and the sub-prime banking crisis.
That inarticulate buffoon George W Bush, with his macho posturing, has also departed, leaving pub comedians looking vacantly into their beer as they wonder how to poke fun at his more serious and charismatic successor.
Now the Americans have the opportunity to poke fun at our political life, not that they bother.Our leaders are mired in the ya-boo theory of politics, where they prefer to criticise their opponents rather than detail positive policies.
This and the MPs’ expenses scandal have reduced an already low level of interest and belief in our political system.We should learn from the Americans here.
They have a much more vigorous democracy with a wider public involved in lively debates.What we need from our politicians is leadership, plain speaking, positive thinking and imaginative policies, which will bring a better Britain.
Is that too much to ask for?
Philip Welch

Winter is always a surprise

A few centimetres of snow brings out the best and worst in us.
Neighbours check on the alone and vulnerable, help to get vehicles moving and clear paths.
Most employees get to work even if it means tricky drives, arranging lifts or taking long and slippery walks.Certainly our staff have been exemplary. Only on one day did a few fail to reach the office and they all volunteered to work a full day from home with the aid of email, mobile phones and websites accessed through their personal computers.
Sadly I have heard of staff in other organisations whose idea of “working from home” involves daytime television, video games and shopping.
As you may have noticed, offices may be sparsely populated but the supermarkets have been heaving. There is no need to panic buy food, that only means other people may not be able to buy all they need and more food will end up being thrown away than usual.
However, that has not stopped an edgy few assembling a month’s supply instead of their weekly shop, as if the War Of The Worlds had started, when really it is only a poor Hollywood fantasy starring Tom Cruise.
And the Arctic snap has reminded us of what we already knew – that winter weather always takes the British by surprise.
Philip Welch

Painful decision for Strode Theatre

Looking for a low-stress 9-5 job? Then don’t try running a theatre or cinema in mid-Somerset.
You must work long, often anti-social hours and keep the customers coming in a world where the choice of alternative entertainments constantly grows.
No one played video games, surfed the web or watched DVD movies on a 50-inch plasma screen television when Strode Theatre and the Wells Film Centre were launched.
Strode faces particular problems with the threat of the grants they receive from cash-strapped local councils being cut or stopped altogether.
This is an excellent theatre with a reputation for looking after its customers which deserves financial support from councils because it provides a venue for amateur dramatic groups and minority interest films not shown elsewhere in mid-Somerset.
But as the future of the grants is so uncertain, the managers of Strode Theatre face difficult decisions affecting people they have worked with for years as they strive to secure the future of this valuable community asset.
The Mid Somerset Series has reported how financial worries have led the theatre to sever its 39-year link with Strode Productions pantomime.
This came as a bitter blow to the committed and talented members of Strode Productions who have given so much of their unpaid time to entertain audiences.But we should not blame the theatre managers. They have been pressed into a corner and obliged to take painful decisions.
Philip Welch