BARN BREAK-IN -- Another theft in Westhope this week, and it's all too easy to view the past through rose tinted spectacles when every door was left ajar; now the jar would be gone as with the door. Anyway removing the coloured shades it seems pretty clear that, at least locally, the frequency of break ins has increased; it's not all down to more reporting; once a local robbery was news, so rare an event was it, but now it's become a commonplace. Kington Police have recently rolled out Operation Impact with extra police patrolling, which cut crime by half; but unless every region receives the same attention the danger must be that the problem is simply relocated; perhaps that accounts for our own mini crime wave. However in a bid to combat opportunistic crime the parish council has sourced new and inexpensive door and magnetic window alarms which will shortly be available; the window alarms should be no more than £2.25, but details will be published as soon as the devices arrive.

OUT OF CIRCULATION -- Next week, Monday to Saturday, I shall be out of circulation and beyond the reach of the telephone. For matters political, parochial or environmental it's either the evenings or join me at the Old Mayor's Parlour in Church Street.