Tendring Out

Local councillors in the Essex district of Tendring, which includes the most deprived single ward in England, have registered annoyance at the Olympics organisers' decision to bypass the place during the relay to deliver the Torch of Tony to its luminous apotheosis. "Despite being less than 60 miles from Stratford, the home of London 2012," complained the councillors, "Tendring and its residents have yet to receive any benefit from the Olympic Games", while the rest of us have been prosperously basking in rah-rah since almost before Christmas started. "It is people living in areas like Tendring that have much more to gain from the hopes and dreams of London 2012 than elsewhere," the councillors added. No doubt it is true that areas with high unemployment have more person-hours to waste watching sports, and areas with high levels of general deprivation are more likely to be taken in by xenophobic charades; but it is difficult to see how a glimpse of the Torch of Tony would make much difference one way or the other. By golly, the councillors have an answer: "It would help to demonstrate that although we have residents living in the most deprived area in the country, they are not ignored and forgotten by the government." Given the meticulously targeted persecution which the Government has meted out to the unemployed and deprived over the past eighteen months, I should have thought a little ignoring and forgetting would come as a welcome relief. Nevertheless, Tendring's Conservative council has requested Britain's Head Boy to have a bit of a chat with Lord Coe, because getting Nanny State to make meaningless gestures is what the Big Society thingy is meant to be all about.