I’ve just returned from the Amalfi Coast in Italy where I went on my summer hols and had the pleasure of visiting Pompeii (so yes I really did go to the Forum). It’s an amazing experience to walk around a Roman town that has been so well preserved. What incredible foresight Roman Town Planners had to produce such wide, straight roads which seem to have lasted a damn sight better than our roads in Barnet. Then again the Romans didn’t have to deal with Gas, Water, Electricity and Cable companies digging up their roads. The thought of being able to send cable companies to the Colleseum to face the lions does sound rather appealing though - perhaps Artsdepot could be persuaded to introduce a similar spectacle?

But the Romans did share some similar problems to us like graffiti for example (yes I know that the drawings on their walls were frescoes) sex workers setting up shop, petty crime, damage to roads because of traffic. So I came away from Pompeii feeling at little better about the frustrations of having to deal with some of the irritants of living in Barnet because the more things change the more it seems they stay the same.

I also started paying a little attention to the state of the Italian towns I was visiting (OK a lot of attention and I realise how sad that makes me sound). I’d started my holiday with friends in a largish town on the coast north west of Rome. I was staggered at the amount of graffiti that was on every building and the amount of litter that was in each and every gutter. I know we have roads in Barnet that could do with more sweeping or graffiti removal – but our system on the whole works. I asked my Italian friends, who pay more in property tax than we do, why their local council did nothing and what they were paying for? Their answer was that their politicians don’t get elected to do things they go into politics to make money.

It struck me, that whatever our residents think about politicians here, I have never heard them mention corruption as a concern. Sure, politicians are attention seekers or are flattered by the baubles of office – but that is a far cry from corruption. I believe that all of our councillors, across all political parties, take office because they really want to make a difference. So I returned home impressed with how our system works and energised about the thought of making it work even better.