ell, it didn't take long did it? It's just over one week since the new Fermanagh and Omagh Council officially came into existence, but it's already made its mark.

ell, it didn't take long did it? It's just over one week since the new Fermanagh and Omagh Council officially came into existence, but it's already made its mark.

Or should I call it 'super Council'? The super Councillors have emerged, superman-like, from an imaginery phone box.

To be fair, they had been in shadow form; but even so, they've been quick to make important decisions.

One of the early FODC discussions was a Sinn Fein motion demanding that people north of the Border should have the right to vote in Republic of Ireland's election of president. All the Unionist Councillors walked out, though it should be stressed that this wasn't actually a walk-out. Councils, sorry super Councils, across other areas have been making vital early decisions to ban the selling of the poppy or Easter lillies. Or to put the Irish language above English on its signs, so it was important that FODC flew their flag, or showed their teeth.

Fear not, though, they have also been busy in other areas.

Fees for leisure centres have been revamped; I'm sure you've read that the wonderful Lakelanders Swimming Club, which brings great glory to the area as well as providing a superb cross-community vehicle for the health of our young people, has been using the Lakeland Forum pool. They paid �8,000 last year, but this has now increased to �30,000, a hike of an unbelievable 350 per cent.

I see now that some Councillors are campaigning to get the decision reviewed. Good for them; except that, er, they were part of the Council which approved the increase in the first place. Where were they when that happened?

I haven't checked the dates, but I don't think the decision was made when Councillors were spending �5,500 on their recent trip to Scotland. Or when the chairman's annual salary of �24K was approved.

Em, �24K plus �5.5K comes to….about 30K, the amount the young swimmers will have to pay.

Just saying!

Rates bills have been dropping through our letterboxes, and while people like me have to pay more, the worst hit would appear to be business people; some of them face double what they paid last year, I'm told. To be fair, this is more to do with revaluations than the super Council per se; but hey, they're getting the benefit.

It would seem that the new Councils are hell bent on closing local sports clubs and one wonders how local businesses are benefitting from the raft of change.

Super, smashing, great, as Jim Bowen might have said on 'Bullseye'. But if you want to take a look at you would have won, it doesn't augur well.

The super Councils have increased powers and their remit will include urban regeneration and economic development. And it's particularly ironic when it's claimed that the reorganisation of Councils is supposed to save money, with one estimate suggesting that �500 million could be saved over the next 25 years.

But where are the savings coming from? Not the pockets of young swimmers and their families, or the business people fighting hard to provide jobs.

The reputation of politicians is a bit low at the minute. Just a bit. But, after all, they do have a mandate; your votes put them in there. And with all the talk at the minute of a 'sectarian headcount' it would seem that 'the people' are still following the traditional route at the polls. In last week's 'The View' on BBC television, live from Belleek, three of our Westminster candidates were challenged about what they were doing for working people, how they were benefitting young people and business. While they addressed these questions, did you not get the feeling they were more comfortable when it came to the same old, same old.

As Frank McManus put it so succinctly, for the Union or agin the Union.

And if you're complaining about the lack of 'normal' politics, remember which way people vote.

Proof of that is that the 11 new Councils have elected 6 DUP chairpersons and 5 Sinn Fein. Following continued claims at Stormont of the two main parties carving up power between them, this has led to the suggestions of Balkanisation; after the region in Europe around the Balkans where the various hostile factions divided up territory and stuck to running their own bit.

That couldn't happen here. Could it?

Well, at least they don't discriminate when it comes to sticking the arm into people they want money off.

Politicians and money is a bit of a volatile mix. We feel they line their own pockets by taking money out of ours, and when it comes to paying for vital services, we don't feel they are too competent. Just ask William Graham, Ben Thompson and Roisin Henry who are all losing out because Stormont cuts of Disability Sport.

(Congratulations, by the way, to Enniskillen Rotary Club for helping out, and best wishes to those campaigning to get funding from government.) The reputation of politicians as money-grabbing may not be fair; but it is a perception.

And certainly when it comes to the early machinations of FODC, they've given us the impression that triumphalism over the other side matters more than helping the ordinary people.

Prime Minister David Cameron went on television this week to tell us how important Christianity is to the life of the nation. You may well think that it was nothing more than cynical electioneering; I couldn't possibly comment.

But it has re-opened the argument about whether Britain is a Christian country any more. One survey suggests that by 2050, only 45 per cent of people in Britain will consider themselves Christians, while Muslims will increase to about 11 per cent. It depends which way you look at it, but that would suggest that those predicting that Britain will be overtaken by the Muslim faith are far off the mark.

Easter is a time of great joy for Christians, when we were reminded of the great hope that the Resurrection of Christ brings.

And yet for all the good work that it does in society, Christianity gets a bad press nowadays and is constantly put down in an increasingly secular world.

I would be more convinced by David Cameron's honeyed words about our faith if he was Prime Minister of a society in which Christianity was respected.

The latest example of the pressure on Christians came when a 37-year-old NHS worker in England, Victoria Wasteney befriended a Pakistani colleague, who often sought her out for advice. Victoria offered to pray for her.

As a result she was branded a 'religious nutcase', accused of bullying her colleague by trying to convert her, and disciplined. The case is being appealed.

This case resonates with me because a friend and NHS worker told me recently, he'd been worried about comforting someone in a hospital by quoting the Psalms – because it wasn't allowed.

I fully understand the need to be careful in this respect, not to come across as ramming one's religion down someone's throat or appearing to put them under pressure.

But surely, this is political correctness gone too far.

Christians are called to witness; we can, of course, do this simply by our actions and example. In living our lives in such a way that our faith comes through.

Apparently, a call came through on a police radio to Headquarters.

We had a call that a woman shot her husband for walking on the wet floor she had just cleaned; we're at the scene now, said the officer.

Have you arrested her?

Not yet, the floor's still wet!