A FENLANDER’S DIARY

I'M sure railway enthusiasts in the Fens will know of Eddie Knorn who spent 20 years in Cambridgeshire working on the railways.

I've yet to discover where in Cambridgeshire lived, but I can tell you where he is living now, and the difficulties he is in.

He is so fascinated by the rail industry he moved to live near Crewe, which as any enthusiast will tell you spells Utopia for those of a certain inclination.

However, life is proving troublesome for Mr Knorn since he took with him a Class 101 diesel multiple unit which he proudly displays in his front garden on the main Chester Road at Wardle.

But despite spending £3,000 to move it from Cambridgeshire, he's been told it has to go because it is startling passing drivers and there's a real fear there will be an accident.

The 41-year-old says he has been told by Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council that he must move the 58ft train by Monday at his own expense.

BRAKESPEARE is too near to getting a bus pass not to be concerned about the employment prospects of those of a certain age, so he welcomes the campaign to get Malcolm Moss reinstated to the shadow front bench.

Mr Moss, as you may recall, lost his shadow ministerial brief in charge of tourism, licensing and gambling in a surprise move by new boy David Cameron a fortnight ago.

Mr Moss says there was "no real basis for moving me" but is realistic enough to concede that it was probably an age related.

"They want a younger looking, broader based team when things happen," he says.

Which is not to say there hasn't been a vociferous campaign to reinstate the North-East Cambridgeshire MP, with the British Casino Society, for instance, writing to Mr Cameron to point out that Mr Moss "is one of the few politicians who had complete ownership of issues and intricacies of the Gambling Act".

Even the Bingo Association thought his removal "a retrograde step" while the Visit Britain Group believes he will be "greatly missed".

Colin Daniels, I thought, had the best idea to date. He's president of BACTA, which represents the pay-to-lay leisure machine industry, and thanked Malcolm for providing them with an "understanding voice in Parliament".

By way of a thank-you Mr Daniels was wondering if "we could treat you a very nice lunch as a way of saying thank-you".

I WAS intrigued to read this week about another MP, Henry Bellingham, whose Norfolk constituency embraces some of our Fenland villages, who wants a further tightening of the laws governing fireworks.

Not that I have anything against fireworks, nor indeed Mr Bellingham's campaign, but it was a letter from the Prime Minister Tony Blair that caught my attention.

For as Mr Blair explained to Mr Bellingham, since August 2004 it has been illegal to let off fireworks after 11pm.

Nothing wrong with that perhaps, but it seems England is suffering some discrimination since on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day itself, the curfew is extended to midnight but on Diwali Night and the Chinese New Year you can light your rockets and sprinkle your sparklers quite legally until 1am.

BRAKESPEARE happened to be near the phone when the disgruntled brother of an 18-year-old, jailed for a vicious assault on a shopkeeper, rang to complain.

It seems the brother thought the press should not have reported the jailing so prominently because of the "shame he has brought on our family".

What was remarkable about the 15-minute conversation was the total lack of concern for the victim, and his family; his over riding concern was for his own family's good name.

Luckily the stewards of our increasingly political correct society have yet to countenance the merits of such an absurd notion of censorship. My only fear is that someone, somewhere is at this moment thinking through the merits of such a proposal.

A STONEMASON in the Fens which, of course, does precisely what it says on the tin, had a sign in the window stating it was 'closed due to bereavement'.