HAVE you ever settled upon what you considered to be a terrific idea in the middle of the night, only to later realise it was utterly potty once the horse had bolted?

In case you missed it the Mayor of Worcester, Councillor Alan Amos, decided it'd be good to pass on the bonkers complaints of some residents about Tolladine Road's speed camera van to the county council, centred around drivers moaning that the signage "did not give motorists a safe time or distance" in which to slow down.

They needed more notice to stop speeding, basically.

Heaven forbid anyone violating the law should ever be zapped by one of these devilish creations, eh?

What do we think we are, a civilised nation or something?

Heaping irony upon sweet irony Tory Councillor John Smith, the man in charge of highways safety then proclaimed that the Safer Roads Partnership "should not be snooping around, so to speak" despite admitting he knew absolutely nothing about the actual speed camera in question.

Cllr Amos has since spent this week insisting how he doesn't have a personal view on the camera and was only passing on residents' concerns, which on one hand is a perfectly plausible stance.

But if you told your local representative shoplifting should be legalised, the Guildhall should become a Mickey Mouse theatre, children should go to school seven days a week and all council tax must cease, would you expect any of that to be raised in the corridors of power, even with back up?

Now Superintendent Kevin Purcell wants a word in both Cllr Smith and Cllr Amos' ears.

Either these two thought they were auditioning to play the next Del Boy and Rodney characters, or whisky is being pumped into the water coolers at County Hall.

* WORCESTER Labour Party's city council elections manifesto is out, despite it being mid-February, in a bid to steal a march on the rest who tend to produce their ‘pledges’ around Easter time.

The dossier, less than a bus ticket of commitments, makes no mention of council tax, car parking charges, or the trifle matter of the £10.4 million pound swimming pool, all very important city council issues it has ultimate, direct control over.

Instead, we're treated to delights such as street lights (a county council responsibility), more pedestrianisation (a county council issue) and "reduced vehicular access" in the city (yep, a county council matter) as some of the suggestions it will rather vaguely pursue.

I take it this is a first draft?

* COUNCILLOR Peter 'call the cops' McDonald has his own take on the county council's scheme allowing politicians to request footpath repairs in their own divisions.

"Footways are that bad it's like throwing a bone at a bunch of mad dogs, it's chaos, it's crazy," he said.

Has he become a parody of himself? Woof, woof.

Where’s cardboard Ed, by the way?

*WELL-KNOWN around these parts but unheard of elsewhere, Councillor David Hughes, Malvern Hills District Council’s leader is going up in the world having made the Rotten Boroughs section of Private Eye this week.

The Conservative, fresh from the dismal rejection of that oh-so slightly tricky housing development in Alfrick, is by my count only the fourth Worcestershire politician this decade to make it onto the hallowed, rather embarrassing pages of the satirical magazine’s section dedicated to the ‘misunderstood’ members of local government.

A hearty congratulations!