Teachers, teachers leave those kids alone; Pink Floyd's lyrics do not accurately describe the situation as it is now. However, the kids, many kids are being left alone and at home with parents and grandparents who are thrust into the role. This role ever was the introduction of Universal Education by the post war Labour Government and has been passed to professionally trained teachers (the preparation was the work of R.A. Butler, a member of the national wartime government and the resulting1944 Education Act).
Earlier today I walked into Kibworth to do some shopping. I came across this token in a clear wallet laying on the ground. I was curious and looked closer.
Having read the Kibworth Chronicle article on concerns about speeding on the A6 I thought that I might reassure your readers that your hugely committed neighbourhood team, and the Force wide multi-agency Safer Roads Partnership, are aware of those concerns and have given them appropriate attention. Of course those concerns aren’t the only ones that we have to deal with; in 2020 we dealt with over 141,000 emergency 999 calls, 96% of them answered within 10 seconds, over 333,000 non-emergency calls, 68% of them answered within 30 seconds, and well over 16,000 online reports. We have also made over 12,000 arrests (132 of which in December alone were for drink or drug driving), dealt with an average of 16 missing person reports every day and handled over 19,000 reports of COVID related incidents. That level of calls for service from local people means that we have to prioritise, especially as we rebuild police numbers after the pressures of austerity reduced our officer numbers from 2352 in 2010, when I became Chief Constable, to fewer than 1800 at some points. We are now recruiting again and heading back towards (and hopefully beyond) 2000 officers, which can only be good news for local communities and bad news for offenders.
A few years ago my brother purchased a piece of local history on e-bay that records a time when the famous Cunard family resided here in the county. It was a page from the ‘Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News’, dated November 22nd 1884, under the heading ‘Hunting Centres – Sir Bache Cunard’s Hounds’.
Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland has, during lockdown, already seen a dramatic rise in calls from older people desperate for help with the basic essentials of life.
