Column: Jon Bone
Our local male suicide rate has led a doctor to provide a place in Newmarket where men borne down by troubles and anxieties can meet and, at the very least, have the comfort of finding they are not alone in their ordeal.
This is a welcome move for many reasons but, and here i beg you not to think me sexist, it is reassuring and remarkable to find such a social initiative aimed solely and specifically at men.
Seeking to redress the balance after centuries of inequality, support for various women’s problems has proliferated. Now the pendulum sometimes seems to have swung so far that it is men who may in some ways be neglected and be expected to soldier on alone.
I have read the latest somewhat opaque report and still do not pretend to have any real understanding of what has been going on or, rather, not going on at Cheveley Parish Council. They have just started meeting again after silence since last August. something to do with standing orders and one member.
Clearly this has been a tricky time for the council and anyone who cares for the strength of rural life will be glad they are struggling to grasp the reins again and take on neglected duties.
Villages with parish councils are the envy of urban areas whose people are often more distantly represented. Parish councils are precious. Often a big boring bother, too, but precious.
Thank goodness the report to Forest Heath community services committee on the former park-and-ride car park in Newmarket was kept strictly confidential before their meeting on Tuesday. It would be a tragedy for democracy and, indeed, civilisation itself if such crucial documents fell into the hands of mere townspeople to discuss and form opinions.There are some such reports, like the one backing a move for the market, which should be kept quiet for years, before the ignorant, meddling public poke in their nosey noses.
Those whose working lives depended on Sam Alper’s success or failure will have mixed memories of the days when his Newmarket caravans business thrived and faded but his impact on the town can never be doubted. He was the very definition of an entrepreneur.
So his story told in a new book, by Andrew Jenkinson will be useful reading for anyone who wants to understand what makes this town tick. It is not all horses, although racing itself has enough characters like Sam.
Men with his flair and vision can be hard to handle but we could do with more like him now. Perhaps they are still right here among us but, because of our rules and regulations, policies and politics, we tend to treat them like the enemy of prosperity.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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