martin surl pcc Tag

26 Nov

Posted at 07:13h in Latest News
On BBC Radio Gloucestershire this week, I heard a presenter encouraging his listeners to put up their Christmas decorations. Whether you regard the last weekend in November as too early to be ‘decking the halls’ is a matter of personal choice, although many shops have decided not to delay their festive displays any longer when in previous years they would have been out before bonfire night.

04 Jun

Posted at 07:30h in Latest News

To meet this newspaper’s print deadlines * , I am required to submit copy for this column by the Tuesday before publication at the latest. I leave the subject as late as possible to make it topical and stick to local issues to make it relevant.

I was about to submit this week’s offering when the latest pictures of the riots in America following the death of George Floyd appeared on TV. It was easy to see why it was the first story, other than the daily update on coronavirus, to lead our national news bulletins. 

05 May

Posted at 19:57h in Latest News

This Thursday should have been Election Day for me. Instead, like so many other events, it was an early casualty of coronavirus.

Like many of the thousands of GCSE and A level students whose exams were cancelled, I felt a sense of frustration that having worked hard, stayed the course, prepared well and had a reasonable - though not certain - level of confidence in the outcomes we never had the chance to prove it. At least I get a second chance next year.