20 October

Two experiences yesterday that give a flavour of working in local government. One was trying to think of a way to rescue ducklings trapped in a fountain. The other a long phone call tirade from a resident about Council apparently importing busloads of ‘blacks’ and ‘muslims’, and feeding them ‘with ratepayers’ money’. Council of course isn’t importing busloads of anybody. But it plays well in some circles, with lots of jingoistic flags thrown in, particularly now towns are really competing social media teams.