If at first you don't succeed - tree, tree again (From Swindon Advertiser)
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If at first you don't succeed - tree, tree again
2:20pm Saturday 13th December 2008 in News
SWINDON’S seasonal spruce hasn’t got everybody in the festive spirit.
The 49ft Christmas tree that now adorns the Magic Roundabout was first suggested by a taxi driver before being taken up by the leader of the council, Rod Bluh.
But the yuletide fir, which went up on Wednesday evening, has been slammed by one cabbie as an embarrassment to the town.
“It’s rubbish,” said Hackney cab driver Nathan Blake.
“If that’s the best that Swindon can do then I think we should all be embarrassed.
“What is the point of doing a job if you’re going to do it that badly? Don’t get me wrong – the tree is nice. It’s fat at the bottom, thin at the top – just like it should be, and they’ve managed to put it up the right way round.
“But what happened to the lights? It looks like someone has just gone up on a cherry picker and chucked them across. It’s an absolute embarrassment.
“When I took a passenger down there I actually felt ashamed.
“When you look at what they’ve done on Marlborough High Street it absolutely puts Swindon in the shade.
“Those decorations make you want to go for a pint and get in the Christmas spirit – I don’t know what sort of spirit that tree is supposed to put you in.
“There are normal, everyday houses around the town that have done a better job than the council at putting Christmas lights up.
“And we haven’t even seen the state it’s going to be in after Saturday night, when everyone is swinging off it like Tarzan.
“It looks like Rod Bluh wants everyone to have a blue Christmas in his name.”
Swindon’s most talked about tree had a difficult birth – on the first attempt to put it up on Sunday morning the concrete base supporting it cracked and the operation had to be abandoned.
A series of doom-laden prophecies from Labour’s transport spokesman Coun Derique Montaut followed, including a warning that football hooligans could see it as a target.
His criticisms have landed Coun Montaut with the moniker Scrooge, but his offer to the council leader to dress up in the role if Coun Bluh would switch on the lights dressed as Santa was rebuffed.
Coun Montaut said that after all the hype he found the tree underwhelming.
He said: “I was disappointed, but not in a negative way.
“This was something that was supposed to ignite the Christmas spirit in Swindonians, but I think they way it’s been decorated makes it very difficult to do that.
“I also think there are other areas in the town centre where it could have had more of an effect.”
But Coun Bluh said he was delighted by the end result at the lighting up ceremony.
He said: “It is good to see that the tree is finally up.
“We had a massive amount of emails about this and a lot of support. It is great to do something festive.
“Now all that is left is to work out what we are going to do here permanently.”
Comments(21)
Big Mac
says...
2:50pm Sat 13 Dec 08
Tell us, Mr Montaut, how can one be disappointed in a positive way?
Ankh
says...
3:42pm Sat 13 Dec 08
Russ STFC
says...
4:27pm Sat 13 Dec 08
Coun Blu have you ever put lights on an xmas tree ?
spirite
says...
4:54pm Sat 13 Dec 08
MrAngry
says...
8:07pm Sat 13 Dec 08
The tree at the Outlet Village looks great and the lights on the tree outside Wroughton's Ellendune centre is another example of how to do it properly.
doug on the farm
says...
2:13am Sun 14 Dec 08
Bobfm
says...
10:14am Sun 14 Dec 08
SockPuppet
says...
12:36pm Sun 14 Dec 08
moonraker
says...
12:40pm Sun 14 Dec 08
Dr Watson
says...
1:07pm Sun 14 Dec 08
alexg
says...
1:54pm Sun 14 Dec 08
PaulD
says...
2:57pm Sun 14 Dec 08
PeeveD
says...
3:36pm Sun 14 Dec 08
doug on the farm wrote:Did the article mention the V driver who has recently been released from prison after serving time for rape? Or the driver currently incarcerated for attempting to kill himself and his children? Or the driver who had his license revoked after being found guilty of sexual assault?
Sorry to hijack the article, but in a previous article V Cars, the benefactor of this wonderful tree and lights, is making its services available free of charge to victims of rape. Fine and very laudable, but for the very fact that they go on to explain that they take the situation so seriously that all their drivers have an advanced CRB check. It is Swindon Borough Council, who insist that all Hackney and Private Hire Drivers do not get a licence until they (SBC) have received the results of an Enhanced CRB check. It would be more credible for V Cars to state that all their drivers have received qualifications in (rape) counselling, instead of using one of the most debase crimes that can be perpetrated on a women, (O.K. yes, men can be raped, but it is usually an offence against women) to gain very cheap publicity for their business.
PeeveD
says...
3:39pm Sun 14 Dec 08
Bobfm wrote:No Bob... you are quite accurate.
I may well b wro9ng, but I didn't think non British Nationals could be CRB checked, unles of course they have already committed an offence in the UK.
How can anyone CRB check an eastern european national who comes to this country specificaly to be a taxi driver?
doug on the farm
says...
4:28pm Sun 14 Dec 08
PeeveD wrote:Er, no it didn't. Perhaps they don't want to think about that!
doug on the farm wrote: Sorry to hijack the article, but in a previous article V Cars, the benefactor of this wonderful tree and lights, is making its services available free of charge to victims of rape. Fine and very laudable, but for the very fact that they go on to explain that they take the situation so seriously that all their drivers have an advanced CRB check. It is Swindon Borough Council, who insist that all Hackney and Private Hire Drivers do not get a licence until they (SBC) have received the results of an Enhanced CRB check. It would be more credible for V Cars to state that all their drivers have received qualifications in (rape) counselling, instead of using one of the most debase crimes that can be perpetrated on a women, (O.K. yes, men can be raped, but it is usually an offence against women) to gain very cheap publicity for their business.Did the article mention the V driver who has recently been released from prison after serving time for rape? Or the driver currently incarcerated for attempting to kill himself and his children? Or the driver who had his license revoked after being found guilty of sexual assault?
shottie
says...
5:44pm Sun 14 Dec 08
Big Mac
says...
5:44pm Sun 14 Dec 08
Which is a bit of a shame, considering that many single young male immigrants come here specifically because they were criminals in their own countries.
A prize for the first person who mentions the word 'racist' in this thread - *yawn*
Dr Watson
says...
11:24pm Sun 14 Dec 08
PeeveD
says...
12:00am Mon 15 Dec 08
Dr Watson wrote:Not really true. If we have one million young male immigrants moving in and just one percent of them are criminals that equals 10,000.
Not racist Big Mac, just a gross overstatement. 'Many' suggests lots, even the majority. No doubt some have dodgy pasts just as some of the Brits on the Costa do. To suggest 'many' is unfair to the majority of hardworking migrants, who are just people trying to do the best for themselves and their families.
I would call that many.
Big Mac
says...
10:40am Mon 15 Dec 08
In every single nation on earth the highest percentage of criminality and criminal records exists within the social group of young, single men.
It's therefore very obvious that 'many' (or 'a lot') of immigrants will be criminals and/or have criminal records.
An indicator of this can be seen in today's Adver - where it's reported that Central Ward (which has the highest concentration of immigrants in the Swindon area) has the highest incident of non-payment of Council Tax, which, of course, is a criminal offence.
BTW, Dr Watson, simply saying that a number of immigrants are criminals is not, in any way, unfair to the majority of hardworking migrants, who are just people trying to do the best for themselves and their families. It is simply a reality of the situation.
Why on earth would anyone wish to be unfair or disrespectful to hardworking migrants, who are just people trying to do the best for themselves and their families? I certainly wouldn't.
sir lancelot
says...
4:28pm Mon 15 Dec 08
PaulD wrote:anyway to get back on topic - came past it at 5.20 pm on Sat urday and again later in the evening and the lights were not even on - and yes it does look tatty -coned and fenced off -good idea in concept Roddy - bad in implementation!
saw it for the first time today - it does look quite scruffy and spartan
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