19 JANUARY 1985, Page 5

Snow-measuring

The cold weather has shown many Lon- doners the true nature of the borough councils to which the Government is so anxious to devolve more responsibilities: the councils' efficiency can be measured by the speed with which they have cleared snow and ice from the streets. While the wicked, Conservative low-rate boroughs seem, with the conspicuous exception of Kensington and Chelsea, to manage this duty with ease, the caring, left-wing and high-rate boroughs cannot be bothered with so mundane a task. The contrast has been evident all over the city. In West- minster, where, incidentally, the dustbins are often emptied every day, the streets were cleared early on the Monday morning after the first snowfall. In Camden, on the other hand, where the Spectator's office is situated, where the rates are twice as high and where the dustmen come but once a week, the snow was left for days, becoming packed into ice which was a real danger to pedestrians. It might be assumed that the rates are so high in the 'people's republics' like Camden because the councils indulge in tendentious political activities in addi- tion to performing their conventional statutory duties. It seems more likely, however, that the monstrous growth of action committees and minority services, all staffed by political graduates, is achieved at the expense of the old- fashioned and decent local government officials who used to look after pavements, public health, etc. The irony is that the minorities the Socialist councils affect to care about so deeply — blacks, lesbians, elderly, handicapped, and so on — are just as, if not more likely to slip and injure themeselves on icy pavements as the de- spised white middle-class ratepayers. So much for caring and compassion on the rates.