Leader: Peace talks needed at Civic Centre

Newsdesk • Published 25 Feb 2010 09:00 0 Comments

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THESE days even Sinn Fein and the DUP negotiate from opposite sides of the same table rather than posturing from separate rooms.

Sadly, the increasingly bitter relations among Reading borough's political movers and shakers means that even after last year's shenanigans, when it took three days to reach a council tax compromise, few of them seem to have got the message.

There are people out here suffering. They are losing their jobs, their homes, their firms and even their families while a bunch of politicians squabble and snipe like argumentative children, rather than climb down from their pet hobby horses and talk to each other like grown-ups for the good of the people they purport to represent.

After more than 20 years in power it's understandably tough for the largest party to loosen its grip on Labour dogma, but should the party which aspires to succeed them act like TS Eliot's vanishing Macavity the Mystery Cat?

"...the Secret Service say:

"It must have been Macavity!" - but he's a mile away.

You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,

Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums."

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