We're not here to be liked

6:14pm Thursday 9th August 2007

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A MAYOR of High Wycombe once turned to me at a function, many years ago, and snapped: "You edit a very nasty newspaper."

I retreated beaming to my colleagues at the next table and whispered: "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."

And I meant it.

You see newspapers and their editors aren't there to be liked. We're not there to be popular among councils and officials.

Our task is to report the news and bring public servants to account when appropriate.

When newspapers are branded responsible by local government, it often means they are compliant and harmless. It means they follow the spin of press releases and don't ask too many awkward questions.

On the other hand, when we're labelled irresponsible, it usually means we're doing something right.

Our masters are you, the readers, and being rude and irreverent in print about the authorities is fine - as long as it's in the public interest and it's accurate.

So when a mayor castigates me as nasty', I don't take offence. Better that than being called ineffectual or, worse still, a toady.

That's why it feels weird today for me to declare I think they actually have got something right. And that perhaps I was a bit hasty to judge them over something.

I'll try to say it quickly because it pains me to be too nice: I like their recycling scheme, I like alternate week refuse collections and I like the fact they have given each household four different bins.

Now I know that's not going to make me popular with a lot of you. Many householders are furious with this scheme and claim it's caused a health risk as well as filth and maggots.

The district council's recycling project even prompted one national newspaper to name High Wycombe as the "town where only the rats are happy".

I have to confess I originally hated the idea of alternate week collections and of having to separate my rubbish. I loathed having two massive wheelie bins outside my home and of having to allow food scraps to fester for up to a fortnight.

Yet, as time has worn on, I've realised it really isn't that much of a deal to sift through the garbage. It's actually quite satisfying to think my organic waste will be properly recycled and won't end up on the same rubbish heap as everything else.

It's also great to enjoy the bonus of not having to go to the dump any longer to dispose of garden debris. Even my newspapers are collected now, saving a trip to recycling sites.

There is still the awful drawback that the council refuses to collect any rubbish left beside the bins. It's a daft policy that runs contrary to being green because it encourages householders to either drive to the dump or to fly-tip.

Recently, though, Wycombe District Council delivered a new black box to my house. This is for drink bottles and food cans, and I love it because it frees up my grey bin.

Bizarrely, it prompted me to have an argument with a family friend, who told me we were all wasting our time by recycling. She stated our efforts were just too feeble to make any difference to the environment, and there was no point in bothering.

It was just a gesture, she claimed, that would not even make a dent.

I'm not going to pretend I know the definitive answer. I regularly edit letters from people who say human activity is not responsible for global warming.

But my instinct is our councils have, for once, got it right. I found myself telling our friend that even if she was correct, our generation simply had to start recycling in earnest.

Even if it only is a gesture, we have to begin somewhere. It's pretty obvious our planet is being wrecked by our ill-use of it, and if we don't at least try to stem the tide now, it's going to be too late soon to save the world.

Our children will not forgive us if we sacrifice their future by ploughing recklessly on the same selfish destructive path.

Councils have courted unpopularity by coercing us into making this small start but they're actually doing their job and should be applauded for it.

They are being nasty' for the public good, just like our newspapers, and I respect them for it.