I couldn’t resist a post in this blog about a chap who has provided absolutely first class service on behalf of the town and its businesses over recent years.

You may have seen the news in the paper recently – Barry Hawkes of The Fakenham Sun is stepping down as editor and publisher. I’m sure his efforts to promote Fakenham businesses through the paper, as well as via his long-running association with the Fakenham Chamber of Trade (he was also responsible for publishing the Chamber’s newsletter) are appreciated by many in the area.

Thanks to Barry for his tireless work  – it’ll be strange not seeing him flitting about visiting businesses in town and I’ll miss his occasional drop-ins to my office for a swift update – he always seemed to know what was going on in the town – unsurprisingly - and was ever willing to share some info. Cheers Barry!

(The Fakenham Sun marches on, of course. Young Helen’s at the helm now and I wish her every success with her venture.)

Here’s an informative piece in the Fakenham Times showing the number of shoplifting offences in the town. They even provide a PDF document showing a breakdown of the crimes over the last 5 years, courtesy of the SNT (Safer Neighbourhood Team).

Apparently, since 2005 shoplifting cases in Fakenham have risen from 16 during that year to 32 in 2009. As a comparison, in Dereham the 2005 figure was 78 and now stands at 133 (a slight fall from 2008). The supermarkets are the hardest hit, it seems.

The SNT reports that 72% of these crimes in our town result in charges or some kind of action against the culprit.

One interesting point I realised… I spoke to a shopkeeper in Fakenham last year who was fed up to the back teeth with kids pinching stuff from their shop.  They said they were thinking of closing, with this being a contributary factor (I remember that was moaned at for recounting the conversation on the Kick Start Facebook group at the time). The shop did close and now has a new owner.  Strangely, it doesn’t even appear in the list the SNT published.

There’s a story on The Register website about Lord Oxburgh, the Peer charged with leading the investigation of the UEA ‘Climategate’ controversy. It seems he has failed to declare his interest in an organisation called ‘GLOBE’ – a wealthy influence group which funds eco-meetings for politicians. One insider called the situation, “like putting Dracula in charge of the Blood Bank”.

This follows on from the post I made yesterday about the skewed way our information is provided, with commenter Chris pointing out the way that people and groups with a vested interest try to influence our views and government policy by presenting ‘facts’ that suit their purpose.

Add to that the recent Channel 4 exposé, “Politicians for Hire” where MPs rent their services to lobby groups and companies and we’re starting to build up the beginnings of the complete picture.

Our elected representatives and appointed public servants (including local ones) should not be allowed to hold outside interests. They should not be permitted to work for any external organisation, company or group. They should not be entitled to hold a religious, educational, legal or medical post until after their political term is over. If we pay them a decent wage for the job, they have no excuses for trying to line their own nests (and we’d get better service and value from them in the long term).

Also, we need to make the penalties for transgression severe. That’ll get their noses out of the trough and stop them putting their own interests (and those of the companies paying them) before those of the people they purport to represent.

There’s a tendency these days for organized groups to try to get things banned which they don’t like or agree with - Britain’s enviable past reputation for tolerance has taking a severe battering. Often, the reasons given for the need for a ban are spurious and illogical.  Bonnets have their bees duly installed, with the result being an over-the-top call for the outlawing of certain practices, items or ideas.

Example: Today’s BBC News story about smoking in cars. “Ban smoking in all vehicles, doctors demand“.  It’s The Royal College of Physicians who are promoting this one and they cite the risks to young people travelling in cars with smokers. Trouble is, they want to ban it in cars without youngsters too. It’s an illogical argument and an attack on individual liberty (I don’t smoke, by the way).

Also, how the Sam Hill do they expect a law like this to be policed? People already flout seatbelt laws and use mobile phones whilst driving. Totally dumb. There are some people you’d expect better from.

The new shop in Norwich Street now has a sign above the door. It’s called ‘Secrets’. Thought you might want to know that!

In other news, the Fakenham chapter of BNI (makes them sound like the Hells Angels) are seeking a local florist to join their ranks. Their contact details are here.

You know how big TV celebrities like Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry get followed on Twitter by hundreds of fans. Well the reverse kind of situation just happened to me!

I run the IT side of a new company called House Advertiser, as you may have seen before on this blog. Part of our marketing strategy is to promote our services on our company blog, which is linked to Facebook and Twitter.

Just now, I recieved notification that our company Tweets are being followed by none other then Sarah Beeny, of Channel 4′s Property Ladder.

Hehe. Funny old world, innit?

A new web poll for all you people who shop in Fakenham… Is it good, bad or just OK to shop here? Is it improving or getting worse? I’ve seen a few posts on Twitter which imply that Fakenham’s shops are dying because of Tesco. I don’t believe that’s true, but would like your opinion too.

Please vote using the Poll section of the menu on the right of the page. If you have a comment to make after your vote, please add it to a comment on this post. If you actually run a shop in town, please tell us about your experience.

The previous poll on here (pictured right) found that most readers of the site who responded are from the Fakenham area. That’s a start!

All the Fakenham Blog posts are now Tweeted automagically as well as being placed onto Facebook. There’s no escaping!

If you’re looking for me on Twitter, I’m ‘FakenhamBlog’. If you’re not looking for me, there’s hope for you yet!

Sad news – it looks like another shop shutting down in Fakenham – Loulou’s Toyshop is having a closing down sale. The premises are in a good spot, so hopefully another business can take advantage of that. Best of luck to the current owners in whatever they do next!

If I get the chance, I go for a bit of a walk in the afternoon. It provides a nice break from working on the ol’ PC. Yesterday, it was lovely down by the river – still crisp but sunny. The adjacent fields were a tad waterlogged though.