COUNTY council deputy leader Bill Chapple clearly doesn’t like what the press is writing at present. But maybe rather than spending time criticising the media, he should put all his efforts into tackling the crisis which is fast sapping away public confidence in local government in Bucks.

Cllr Chapple, as we report on page 13 today, implied to colleagues that local newspapers ‘hoodwink’ readers. He urged papers to make ‘fact a virtue’ and insisted the public needed to be told ‘the truth’. This is the same Cllr Chapple who recently suggested the public prefers council newsletters to independent local papers.

We have no beef against Bill Chapple, who we know works hard and well for the people of Bucks. But we also know that the public is incensed, rightly or wrongly, by the strategies employed during the severe weather by his council. Potholes and gritting have caused more public furore than anything we can remember in recent years.

The term ‘shooting the messenger’ perhaps springs to mind here.

We are, however, confused about where the councillor is coming from on this, so we invite him to explain himself in full in next week’s Free Press. We offer him this very page where he can freely inform the public of the truth he implies we have been denying them. Watch this space.