Laptop lessons

However, those with a little background knowledge will assume that the councillor in fact intends to refer, albeit rather obliquely, to his being caught with his pants down, so to speak, as regards pornography being downloaded to his district council supplied computer. This rather begs the question as to whether he is apologising for observing pornography, for using a council laptop to do so, or merely for being rather sloppy in this activity and thus caught out.

As regards the first of these possibilities I for one, having regard to Fifty Shades, current adult themed TV and cinema etc. etc., all being avidly consumed and enjoyed by vast sections of the community, find it impossible to make any moral judgment on the issue and certainly would not think it in any way impaired his ability or entitlement to continue to serve. But I do have to question the common sense and judgment of any individual nowadays who leaves a trail to dubious material on his work computer. What on earth was he thinking?

Cllr Gardner further says that he “will ...work tirelessly on all your behalf”, which makes me wonder whether some basic literary training would be of more benefit to him than a computer. And on that point, I note that the council has confiscated his laptop until the end of term. It occurs to me that if a councillor can manage to work tirelessly without a laptop, then why are they issued in the first place?

If they are essential, then why is Cllr Gardner, and thus his constituency, being deprived of the benefit of this vital piece of kit?

Perhaps the laptop should be reissued to the good councillor without delay, provided of course that there is effective parental control software installed. In that way, as the councillor himself hopes, perhaps we can all move on.

JAMES RAMAGE

Olav Road, Richmond.