THE EDITOR

The residents of Torbay in Devon have suffered for many years at the hands of one of the most incompetent and corrupt councils in Britain. Only recently have they had an opportunity to express themselves and Country Squire Magazine has been only too happy to listen to residents’ gripes, while passing their more serious complaints to the relevant authorities. Indeed, many emails have been exchanged between us and the authorities in the UK – and abroad – about all kinds of palm-greasing. So fascinating have the discoveries in Torbay been that our investigation has become part of a documentary into Council corruption and some of Torbay’s locals feature prominently.

Being an unpaid anti-corruption unit is fun for a while. After that, it’s for the authorities to take over and prove why we support them with our taxes. Nonetheless an email address thetorbayinvestigation@gmail.com is still open through which residents can reveal data about suspected corruption – any smoking-gun criminality should of course be passed to the relevant authority directly, which this magazine is not.

Last May’s local elections did little to change the status quo. The Liberal Democrats who portrayed themselves as riding white horses turned out to be wet blankets or as malicious as some of the key crooks. Backhanders, a culture of corruption and council officers using services for personal gain – as well as a corporate structure set up around the council by someone with no more than an E grade in GCSE Business Studies – are still ubiquitous. Not for much longer, let’s hope. Just as the notorious Torbay Design Review Panel crumbled and some of its cadres scarpered, so we can expect others spending a lot of time on Expedia after googling “which country has no extradition treaty with the UK?”

And what about the infamous Tuesday Club? Tales of councillors and dignitaries clustering to have sex with all kinds, including underage victims?

We knew that was mostly a smoke-screen back in the summer. It was fascinating to see which officers and councillors kept on pushing the smoke into investigators’ faces via their lunatic lackeys. It was encouraging to see the note passed around the council staff saying do not read Country Squire Magazine. Even more enjoyable to watch a kill-the-messenger session in the autumn as various forces attempted to close down the investigation – they knew not with what forces they were playing.

As whistle-blowers step forward left right and centre, the race is on between police forces. Maybe we should open a book on who scores the biggest arrest fastest? Will it be a foreign force, the local boys in blue, or another?

We’ll report back next year on this vipers’ den.

Happy Christmas to those good people and those caught up in the trouble in Torbay. To the bad ones and the stirrers – don’t rest well. Your number is up in 2020.