The signs with jokes at North Landing have to be removed – no doubt some ridiculous health and safety excuse will be trotted out.

Joe Butler must be quite an amazing man.

He is in his 80s and has come up with a novel way of raising thousands of pounds for a worthy cause.

He deserves a pat on the back and some sort of encouragement to keep going, or maybe some formal recogition of his efforts.

Instead, he gets some jobsworth knocking on his door telling him to remove the signs.

If the jokes had been of the kind which make up Roy "Chubby" Brown's routine, I could have understood the complaints.

They weren't, they were a bit of fun which brought a smile to thousands of people's faces every year. Good, harmless fun.

I have a challenge, partly because I don't believe there actually were any complaints from the public.

If you reported the so-called problem, have the courage of your convictions and tell me.

Write to me and say, my name is .... and I complained about Joe Butler's jokes because ... and then leave your phone number so one of the news team can phone you for an interview.

I'm 99% sure we won't hear from anybody, maybe because anyone who did report it will be too cowardly but, more likely, because it's just an excuse and nobody did complain.

I think people should write to the council and to the Wildlife Trust, which has gone over the top with its heavy-handed actions, and say how much they like the signs.

Tell them Joe is doing a fabulous job for charity and the signs are not unsightly, given they take up a few square metres along a coastline of miles.

If they have had, say, five complaints, once they receive 50 letters backing Joe their reasoning would seem even more stupid than it is now, and maybe they would reconsider.

* THANKS to the anonymous writer who let me know my grammar was slightly below perfect a couple of weeks ago.

You were right, I was wrong (there I've said it, and I don't say it very often).

But surely there are better things to pass your time with than pointing out my occasional failings. Nobody's perfect, although I'm pretty close.

Paper Clip

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