I've come to accept you can't do this job without upsetting people, even when you don't mean to.

No matter how hard you try to be fair to some people you are inevitably going to fall out when you publish some stories because they just don't want you to run them.

This has happened with Chippenham police where the inspector there has banned his officers from passing information of any kind on to the Gazette.

This is because we ran a story in last week's paper about Chippenham Town Council's disquiet over a couple of benches.

The police asked the council to move them from the bridge in the High Street because yobs were gathering there and causing trouble.

People complained that they liked the benches where they were and some people made the point that moving them just moved the trouble.

So the council wanted to move them back. But the police were against this and at a meeting of the town council's amenities committee on September 29 the chairman Marian Strickland said it was her understanding that the police had threatened the town council with prosecution if the benches were moved.

The council resolved that: "Any decision be deferred until further details are available regarding the legality and enforcement powers the Police and NWDC can exercise under Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 with regard to this matter."

A couple of councillors contacted us, notably Elizabeth Kennedy, who was upset about his turn of events.

We duly reported this, together with the police's comments.

After the paper was published I learnt that the inspector had called our chief reporter to inform her that because we had run the story he was not speaking to us and would ensure none of his officers would pass on any information to the public via the Gazette.

Not because the story was innaccurate or because anyone had been misquoted but because he didn't want us to run the story.

This was a story discussed at a meeting in public and the subject of a press release from the town council.

I could understand it if the inspector decided he wasn't going to speak to us but to then order everyone who reports to him not to do so either is a bit much.

I'm told he has said our 'information ban' will last until the end of the month, presumably unless we do something else to upset him.

Perhaps if we don't we may get time off for good behaviour.

I spent a delightful hour at Ivy Lane School today talking to the pupils about the paper as part of their book week.

I rambled on incoherently for about 35 minutes and just as the children were nicely glazed into a stupor, the teacher allowed them to ask questions.

I got the usual barrage of queries I always get from youngsters about how many murders I'd been to and what was the worst crash I'd seen.

I also got quizzed by one little lad about how much I earn. When I told him I earnt in a year what David Beckham pulls in while brushing his teeth of a morning he rather smartly replied: "About a million pounds then." He'll go far, that one.

Ivy Lane is a lovely little school with a really bright and enthusiastic atmosphere.

It was a really nice way to spend an hour on a Thursday morning. I'd recommend it. And they seemed very pleased to see me and were grateful for the coverage we give the school, so it made a nice change.