IN A bid to reconnect with fresh air, the Tory leadership at Worcestershire County Council recently went on an 'away day' at the West Midlands Safari Park, of all places.

With snakes, screaming chimpanzees and hysterical hyenas hissing from every direction surely this was no different from every single full council meeting?

* WE told you on Tuesday how cases of scarlet fever have rocketed across Worcestershire - in fact it's up a shocking 666% year-on-year, with children most at risk.

The fact it matches the devil's number is worrying enough, but it's the county council response which might make you frown more.

Despite having a statutory duty for public health, trying to get any insight, advice or even a single line of comment from County Hall on it this week proved harder than pulling out teeth.

When Dr Richard Harling departed as its former health director last month, one presumes he took every single scrap of paper with the word 'fever' written on it with him.

* GEORGE Osborne's heralded Budget included a sugar tax on all fizzy drinks, longer school days and Maths until children reach the age of 18.

Surely the question has to be asked - what on earth have Britain's kiddies done to upset the Chancellor so much?

* ON that very subject, just three hours after Osborne announced his attack on fizzy drinks Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader at County Hall, went to see his dentist - and came out with a filling.

Don't tell Jamie Oliver, he'll have you as the ultimate sugar tax poster boy.

* THE Green Party has rocked back on its pledge to definitely stand a candidate in May's police and crime commissioner (PCC) elections - saying Councillor John Raine will only contest the West Mercia seat if they can raise the £5,000 deposit.

But the Lib Dems have no such issues, with Wychavon Councillor Margaret Rowley announced as its hopeful this week.

Putting the morals of this rip-off fee to one side, The Source can't help but wonder if it really is worth it for the more minor parties.

For £10,000 you could get change out of a week's holiday is Disneyland.

* THE number of deaths are down in Worcester, which means the city council is getting less money from its bereavement services.

"I'm not sure what policy you'd instigate, other than poisoning the water supply," Councillor Alan Feeney, now nicknamed 'Dr Death', told officers this week.

Nein!

* LABOUR'S Dan Walton, pictured in this newspaper with Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham recently, needs to brush up on the art of spin before May.

The PCC hopeful has put out a press release hammering Bill Longmore's record as the current commissioner, saying West Mercia has seen "a halving of PCSOs since 2010".

The true fall? It's actually 19 per cent - from 285 to 230.