Friday 12 April
Yesterday I spent the morning in Hastings where the local council elections are in full swing. The indomitable James Thomas led the charge with me and his fellow council candidate Jeremy Hicks in tow. We chatted in the Crown pub, then up West Hill to another pub recently robbed, then into the Old Town to meet retailers and residents. James and Jeremy seem to know everyone. They are exactly the kind of community-minded local champions Hastings needs right now.
James introduced me to a couple living behind a huge multi story car park. The car park is car park by day, but teenage party zone by night. Fights. Weed. Music. Shouting. Abuse. Every night, with little response from anyone. I saw in their faces the desperation caused by endless sleepless nights and ceaseless verbal abuse. In the end they’ve decided to hire private security to tackle the issue.
I’ve warned for months what happens if citizens’ trust in the criminal justice system is fractured. People will ‘go private’ and we end up with gun-toting security firms patrolling affluent communities like in the USA. Like people pulling out their own teeth because they can’t get a dentist, this is a bad thing.
At the station, we met Stephen Morgan MP, the shadow transport minister, who was in town to support Helena Dollimore. This was the day Labour announced a new policy for municipal bus services, so a photo at the bus station seemed appropriate. My ear worm for the rest of the day was ‘Bus Stop’ by the Hollies.
Utter chaos hit Southern Rail thereafter. We were thrown off the train at Worthing. I teamed up with another frustrated traveler who was area manager for Cex the electric goods retailer. In our taxi westwards we inevitably talked of the epidemic of retail crime and whether high streets have a future.
At Bersted Green in Bognor I met up with a hardy band of Labour canvassers, braving the drizzle. We spoke with the retailers in the parade of shops. Yet again, they brought up looting and antisocial behaviour and their frustration with the police. A couple of kids wanted to know if I was famous, and were rather delighted when they googled me. Not famous, but all over the internet.
I was really pleased to meet the owners of Wok Master who said they’d had their polling cards but were unsure who to vote for. After our chat I have them down as Labour. Their food looked fantastic. Predictably they’d been robbed but their robbers’ crime is one of the nine out of ten crimes unsolved.
