Last year we featured this e-mail from a Cambridge City resident:
"I have been married for many years, and it has been a complex and often unhappy marriage, mingled with great times and much love and support. There were elements of physical and verbal abuse on occasion, and by that I do not mean broken bones or terrible bruising, but as my husband suffered from an obsessive mental disorder, the situation is too complex to explain in a few sentences.
"Recently, I found myself absolutely at breaking point and sought help, wanting to find accommodation and support at a hostel for abused women so that I could sort my life out, and review the future of my marriage. I was terribly stressed and unhappy. My husband was oblivious.
"I was told that Cambridge City Council would help me to find a place in a hostel and went to them, to be told that I should go to the police - this would help my case greatly. I did not want to do this. My husband is not an evil man, and the situation between us was, as I wrote before, complex. But the City Council was insistent.
"I went to Parkside Police Station in Cambridge and saw a police officer there who basically cuckolded me into believing that the police would simply have to speak to my husband. This shocked me. I did not want to give my husband's name, but I was worn down so did so and gave the officer his name, description and the telephone number. I did not want to give any of this information. I simply wanted to get away. I begged the police officer not to take further action. He said "If you hadn't wanted us to do something, you wouldn't have come here.' I only went there because Cambridge City Council informed me that I should do so if I wanted to get a place in a hostel. This, as it turned out, was false information.
"My husband was arrested. I had no idea this would happen. When I arrived at the hostel, I was told by staff and management that they would have accepted a referral without any police involvement at all!
"The involvement of the police against my wishes, and the bizarre stance of Cambridge City Council in falsely informing me that police involvement would aid my getting a place at a hostel has contributed to the stress and disruption as my life has basically fallen to pieces.
"My husband has been criminalised, and is now on the DNA Database you mention, the complexity and stress of the situation has grown tenfold, and I cannot help but wonder what was the motivation of Cambridge City Council and Parkside Police Station in misleading me. Many women would be put off seeking aid if they knew they would be forced to go to the police before being granted any.
"Is this just Cambridge? Staff and management of the hostel I went to, which was many miles away, were greatly surprised at the stance taken by Cambridge City Council. I repeat, they said they would have accepted a referral without any police involvement."
We felt concerned at the Council's approach, and the fact that its officers actually lied to the woman. Damned off-putting to leave your husband if he happens to be mentally ill and then be told you must dob him into the police before you'll get much chance of help. Then to discover that you've had your husband arrested because you've been lied to by Cambridge City Council - and that you had a right to sanctuary anyway.
But Cambridge City Council knows best. Now the Council has turned its eyes on fag-butt-droppers:
A SMOKER who dropped his cigarette butt in Cambridge is facing a bill for more than £400.
Environment bosses say tobacco-related littering has soared since the smoking ban was introduced in July 2007, and pursued the case against Tom Todd through the magistrates’ court.
The court heard Todd had been challenged by enforcement officer Yvonne Mackender for discarding the butt on Trinity Street in November last year.
Todd, of Colville Road, Cherry Hinton, gave her a false name but Cambridge City Council managed to identify him.
He did not attend the final court hearing but pleaded guilty to several offences by post.
Magistrates imposed fines of £100 for littering and £150 for giving the officer a false name, plus £150 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
When the News tracked down Todd he said the fine was a "rip-off".
He said: "I just chucked my butt and they nicked me."
But the council said it was "delighted" with the result.
Ms Mackender said that although smokers often do not realise cigarettes are classed as litter, they actually take up to 12 years to degrade.
She added: "Cigarette-related litter has increased since the implementation of the smoking ban back in July 2007, with smokers discarding their cigarette ends outside shops, pubs, clubs and restaurants."
The council says butts are difficult for street cleaners to pick up, and they can be dangerous for birds and other wildlife, which pick them up thinking they are food.
Cllr Mike Pitt, the city council’s environment chief, said taking people who drop litter to court was a last resort.
He said: "We issue fixed penalty notices only when we have to. If an individual chooses not to pay the fixed penalty notice, then we will prosecute.
"Like the rest of the team, I am delighted with this result."
And who is Mike Pitt? Some golf playing, car-driving wally who thinks that the 1970s are the new 1960s and that he's such a nice chap because his outlook fits in with the latest trends in fascist PC speak?
And my goodness - fag ends are dangerous for wildlife are they? And nothing else is? Also, fag butts are particularly difficult for street cleaners to pick up?
PURLEASE!!
Cambridge City Council is a posturing, PC little Hitler of the highest order.
Work FOR the people, you tossers, not AGAINST them!
Didn't Hitler have a downer on smokers, too? More here.
And before anybody asks - yes, I do smoke - about twenty a year! And I've worked in a cancer hospice and seen what effects smoking can have, and my mother has emphysema.
But I still believe that smoking is healthier than fascism. And so is deciding for yourself, having been versed with accurate information, whether you subject your mentally ill partner to the trauma of arrest and a lifetime on the DNA Database.
Cambridge City Council is absolutely awful - smug, lying and controlling to the max.
Is this council typical of local councils across the whole of England?
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