IN OCTOBER 1940 a German bomber flew low over Bexleyheath Broadway and dropped a stick of high explosive bombs onto commercial premises opposite Christ Church. Inevitably there were fatalities and many casualties. One of the shops completely destroyed was the dry cleaners adjoining the Post Office; miraculously the Post Office remained standing.
Its bosses have now succeeded in doing what Hitler failed to achieve all those years ago, by closing it down for good.
We are more fortunate than many towns and villages, in that the business is being transferred into WH Smith, still in the Broadway, although I have strong reservations about this move. How the elderly and infirm are going to negotiate the steep stairs leading up to the first floor, without needing medical attention at the top is going to be interesting. Perhaps a member of St. Johns Ambulance will be permanently on duty together with a sign advising the nearest A & E department! And will Smith’s tiny passenger lift be able to cope with pushchairs and prams? I can’t imagine how electric mobility wheelchairs are going to make it, short of being hoisted by crane up the outside of the building. But no doubt this has all been thought out by those responsible for the move. We can only hope.
OF ALL THE THINGS Ken Livingstone has done to get Londoner’s backs up, his critics can only pick on the daily tipple he takes for medicinal purposes. Frankly, the very sight of him and the sound of his voice is enough to drive me to drink.
IT SICKENS ME that so much sleaze and greed pervades political life and even more so now that allegations of a serious diversion of public funds has found its way onto our own doorstep in Bexley. We are not talking about a lowly-paid office boy sneaking out with a biro in his pocket, or snatching a few minutes on the office computer to e-mail Tracey in Accounts with terms of endearment.
No - it’s the fact that so many people holding responsible public office and being well-rewarded by the taxpayer, just cannot resist the temptation of going that bit further by dipping their sticky fingers into the till which is continually replenished by you and me from our meagre earnings.
The term ‘expenses’ has always been a contentious one, because it relies mainly on trust and the honesty of the person claiming them.
Having struggled at one time to support my own son through university, no-one informed me that I would also be required to do the same for the Conway boys. No wonder the (dis)Honourable Member for Bexley and Sidcup was referred to as a ‘family man’. Little surprise then that the public holds politicians in such low esteem. What was once seen as a duty and a privilege, has now been replaced by sleaze and greed.
After this latest exposé, there will be many others now urgently reviewing their personal expenses and domestic arrangements. I particularly noticed that during PM’s Questions in the week the story broke, not one mention was made about this from either side of the chamber, when you might have expected Labour members to have used it to their advantage. I wonder why this was? You don’t think they ALL have something to hide, do you? The whole system stinks.
In a perfect world, where integrity is the moral code, this would not be a problem. Unfortunately, integrity comes well down the list of attributes we can now expect from those we elect to manage our affairs. It is I suppose a sad reflection of what society as a whole has become today and why Great Britain is no longer Great.
IT HAS BEEN REVEALED that plans are in hand to remove Britannia from our coins. The iconic Roman Goddess is to be replaced by a representation of modern Britain - starting with the 50p coin.
I wonder what they have in mind? A beer can; a cannabis plant; an array of knives and handguns; a menacing hoodie; a pregnant teenager; an ugly wheelie bin; a plastic policeman; an example of graffiti - the list is endless and each one accurately depicts real life in today’s Britain. I would think that Goddess Britannia is very relieved not to have to represent us any more.
CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN to me why public sector workers expect an automatic pay rise every year - at the taxpayers expense? There are thousands of employees in private industry who go several years without any increase at all, because quite simply their companies cannot afford it and remain competitive. When I worked, this was certainly the case and we had to wait to see how well (or badly) we had done before any such consideration could be entertained. Those in the public sector who claim that any settlement below the rate of inflation is actually a pay cut, are talking arrant nonsense. It’s time this annual pay race ceased and that also goes for Members of Parliament.
It is my contention that regular pay increases in the public sector does more to fuel inflation than anything else, because as taxpayers and consumers there is nothing we can do to escape the consequences. I recall Enoch Powell in a speech to his constituents, warning one man’s wage rise was another’s pay cut. This certainly applies in the case of pensioners and those on fixed incomes, who suffer most from public sector greed.
JEREMY BEADLE wasn’t to everyone’s taste, having been the nation’s practical joker, among his many other talents. His pranks however hid a more serious side; that of his tireless work for children’s charities, despite in recent years suffering himself from leukaemia. He was personally responsible for raising a record £100 million, until his untimely death this year.
Contrary to his public persona and unlike so many celebrities who use charitable works to further their careers, only a few close friends were aware of his super-human efforts in this field and the difficult circumstances in which he carried them out. Which is why it sickens me that he never received a well-deserved knighthood and Michael Parkinson did.
FURTHER TO THE bus company who published a pamphlet on “How To Get On A Bus,” there appears to be a serious omission. How to get OFF again!
THE NEWS MEDIA worked overtime on the crash-landing of a BA aircraft at Heathrow in January. Mercifully there were no serious casualties, apart from a very bent airplane that is going to need more than a tube of touch-up paint to get it back into service. Once the initial impact had happened and everyone safely accounted for, the drama was over. But not for the news media. TV cameras returned to the scene at regular intervals to train their hungry lenses onto the lifeless fuselage of the stricken aircraft, where nothing had changed since the previous bulletins.
Everyone was quick to applaud the heroism of Captain Burkill for guiding his engineless aircraft safely over the rooftops of houses and finally the perimeter fence, to a pancake landing on soft grass. But then it turned out that the real hero was in fact co-pilot John Coward, who was actually at the controls on landing.
Keen to cash in on the incident, British Airways hastily convened a press conference to parade the crew in the full glare of publicity. Their appearance was reminiscent of a scene from Thunderbirds, in their smart uniforms, wooden demeanour and chiselled features. And the captain’s staccato delivery of the prepared statement was in keeping with his image as Captain Courageous. I found myself looking for the strings that worked him.
The actual hero, co-pilot John Coward, painfully attempted to hide his embarrassment beneath an oversize uniform cap. And the cabin crew director (once called air hostesses), was clearly a stand-in from central casting at Pinewood, she fitted her rôle so well.
If BA’s intention was to reassure potential passengers with the professionalism of their employees, this was completely cancelled out by the constant shots of the wrecked aircraft, which did nothing to convince anyone of a nervous disposition that flying is the safest way to travel.
LOUIS TUSSAUDS WAXWORKS in Great Yarmouth has come in for criticism that many of its exhibits bear little resemblance to the famous people they were intended to represent. Monsieur Tussaud has my sympathy in the case of political figures, because it must be a dilemma deciding which of their two faces to display!
WHAT A SPLENDID SIGHT it was to see 22,000 police officers on the streets of London during their recent demonstration. One has to ask where they all came from, considering how difficult it is to find one when you need one? Felons must have been delighted to be given a day of freedom from interruption in carrying out their nefarious business, although it probably wasn’t much different to any other day for them.
I wasn’t impressed though that these bobbies had exchanged their helmets for white baseball caps. To me, this provocative headgear is usually associated with yobs as an indication of their macho aggressiveness, especially when racing their souped-up minis at breakneck speeds through built-up areas. Not a wise public relations move for the police, I think.
LIFE ON MARS took on a new interest when a NASA robot recently photographed what looked like a human figure reclining against a rock. My immediate thought was that at last they have found Lord Lucan.
AT LAST A POLITICIAN who tells the truth! We must applaud Health Minister Lord Darzi for publicly admitting that the Government’s election pledge to end mixed-sex hospital wards was no more than an aspiration and can never be achieved.
For ten years, Labour has promised to stamp out this undesirable practice, whilst all the time knowing it was not realistically possible. This confirms that promises made in election manifesto’s must be taken with a pinch of proverbial salt and are not worth the paper they are printed on. A huge fine should be levied on those political parties deliberately misleading the electorate in the race for votes.
THE RACE FOR GOLD is as I predicted, continuing at breakneck speed. I’m referring of course to the pay of senior executives at the Olympic Delivery Authority. It is revealed that seven of these ‘competitors’ are receiving in excess of £200,000 a year - more than the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Now I have no idea if these ‘champions’ are value for money, but someone obviously does, to have appointed them. I sense that mild panic is beginning to set in, as 2012 becomes ever closer and throwing large sums of money at it is the only way of ensuring the Olympics open on the due date.
It’s the usual taxpayers and Lottery good causes who are the losers in this money-making marathon.
IT WAS ONLY a small piece tucked obscurely away on the inside pages of the newspapers, but I believe it deserved more prominence than this. Bigamy in our country is illegal and if found guilty, punishable by up to seven years imprisonment. Yet immigrants from countries where this practice is accepted can claim benefits for each of their multiple wives, as well as all the resulting offspring from their polygamous couplings.
The financial permutations are enormous and can result in several hundreds of pounds a week for each extended family unit, thanks to the generosity of the British taxpayer.
There will of course be those who think being surrounded by a number of nagging wives and screaming kids, deserves to be rewarded.
THE LATEST BUZZWORD from Westminster is ‘Transparency’.
But I think we can already see through these charlatans, don’t you?
FORGIVE ME for not getting over-excited about the Presidential Election campaign in the USA. Fever-pitch is being reached as the final race to the White House looks like being between a black man and a white woman, which is unprecedented. But I for one can do without the long drawn-out period of nightly razzmatazz on our tv screens.
The Americans could learn a lot from us Brits. We recently installed a new Prime Minister with hardly anyone realising it. As the outgoing one quietly slipped out of the back door of Number 10, his un-elected replacement seamlessly took his place without any of the fuss of electioneering, ballot papers and people having to bother to vote.
This might not have been democratic, but it beat the hell out of all those noisy conventions, cheerleaders, placards and empty clichés being suffered by our American cousins. And how many times is it said, “They’re all the same anyway, once they get in!”
So ABU HAMZA has finally been told to sling his hook!