AND so the saga continues. The legend of the councillors who stood up to be counted and then realised there wasn't that much to fuss about shall live on.

Maybe it will become one of those stories ageing politicians will tell their grandchildren.

Say what you want about these gentlemen but in the end it didn't really matter.

We still end up with the same lot as we did last year and the year before.

It's time for the Labour leaders, including our local MP Jack Straw, to think about why this whole thing took place.

If some of your most ardent supporters turn their back on the party then something is certainly up with the system.

Maybe we could have a show trial like the one we are having in Iraq and put 'old friends' in the dock. Just make sure they don't say anything about where they got all those deadly weapons from.

So having slated these guys last week and watched them crucified at the hands of those out to defend the democratic way of doing things, I have changed my mind.

Finally the voters have got what they wanted, for which I am glad because then everyone is happy and I can pretend I knew what was going to happen all along.

In fact I might change it again next week. It all depends on whether I get over the last week's England match. Which I won't, but I might well do by next week.

I don't know how I'lI feel because a week is a long time in the life of a columnist.

At the moment I feel like taking a football and having a game on the street. I cannot understand why people would want to ban playing football on the streets. Do what they did in the olden days.

If the neighbour didn't like it they would either chase us down the back alley or just build some houses on it.

Just when I'd find enough paint to draw some wickets on a wall they would knock it down and build a by-pass.

I think kids get a raw deal. If they don't exercise then they get called lazy and good-for -nothings.

If they play a sport then they should be doing it elsewhere.

And when they do find some spare grass the council slaps a £35 per hour charge on it.

And which idiot decided to put a fence around the artifical pitch behind St Wilfrid's School in Blackburn?

Some of my friends ain't the most 'nimble' of fellows and it takes them a good five minutes climbing over it.

The hole isn't big enough you see. By the time everyone's got in it's time to go home.