ONE DAY IN AUGUST, without warning, workmen descended on a busy pedestrian crossing outside Bexleyheath Magistrate’s Court in Albion Road and closed off the direct route between the shopping centre and the south of the town. I witnessed a number of elderly confused and bewildered people wandering onto the dual carriageway into the path of speeding traffic, attempting to reach the doctor’s surgery and the residential home on the other side. In true Boy Scout spirit I assisted several of these endangered citizens to safety having been horrified at the chaotic scene before me.
There were no signs warning approaching drivers to slow down as the traffic signals had been removed and it was everyone for themselves. Sensing a serious accident waiting to happen, I reported the situation at the police station, where the receptionist informed me ‘it’s nothing to do with us guv, see the Council’. I told her in no uncertain terms that it would be only a matter of time before the police would have to deploy officers to scrape up victims from the tarmac and I would have thought prevention was the better option. Why not send a couple of plastic policemen, who can always be seen hanging around chatting by the Clocktower, to supervise the traffic? But she was having none of this and presumably judged me to be a crank.
My next port of call was the Civic Centre, where staff were more sympathetic and allowed me to explain the situation to a disembodied voice on the internal telephone. The ‘voice’ listened whilst I described the whole scenario once again and perhaps just to get rid of me, promised to get someone along right away. Some thirty minutes later I returned to the chaotic scene and nothing had changed. No policeman, no council official and no temporary signs warning drivers to take care. And to add insult to almost injury, I found myself being shouted at by an irate motorist forced to reduce speed from an approaching 60 mph as I attempted to reach the other side of the road, between brief breaks in the traffic.
Not for the first time I reflected on the vast amounts of money we pay towards the police and the local authority and wondered what we get in return and more to the point, do they really care? I suppose I should be grateful at not being arrested for wasting police time and ending up with a criminal record.
GORDON BROWN promised open government, public debate, with nothing hidden. Why then did he decline to wear the kilt during his stay with the Queen at Balmoral?
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6th. A significant date for two different reasons. The great opera singer Luciano Pavarotti died at the age of 71 and the funeral of 11 year old schoolboy Rhys Jones took place in his home town of Liverpool. The only thing they shared in common was their love of football.
Pavarotti inhabited a world of great talent and wealth; he was accompanied everywhere by a coterie of assistants and hangers-on, who fawned upon him and treated him like a god. There could be no greater contrast than the short life of Rhys, who was unknown outside of his own circle of family and friends until that tragic day when he received the fatal gunshot to the neck which instantly killed him. Yet the outpouring of grief spread far and wide, as if it was our own child whose life had been so cruelly and prematurely terminated. Who could have imagined that the great Pavarotti would one day be overshadowed by a small unknown boy from Liverpool.
MY ADVICE TO PARENTS thinking about purchasing the new school uniform that incorporates a satellite tracking device so they can keep an eye on their kids whereabouts, is don’t waste your money you will find them congregating around Bexleyheath shopping centre.
AT A RECENT CONCERT, Rolling Stones band members had the audacity to light up cigarettes during their performance and this made photo news in most national newspapers. My guess is that if they had been smoking drug-filled spliffs, no-one would have taken a bit of notice.
I WAS NO FAN OF PRINCESS DIANA when she was alive and I’m certainly not one now, ten years after her untimely death. It’s true I was never acquainted with her personally, but from what little I have read about her, she was the stereotypical ‘good-time girl’. It was patently obvious she was a pampered, spoilt, self-centred, pleasure-seeking hedonist, who covered up her wild lifestyle by publicly holding hands with aids patients and being photographed with landmine victims. I’m aware that this is at odds with popular mass emotional feeling, encouraged by the almost daily coverage in the Daily Express, which refuses to let her rest in peace.
Yes, it has been a sad time for Princes William and Harry, as it is for any child who loses their mother at such a young age and in such tragic circumstances and it cannot be easy for them to carry their grief in public. But it was her selfishness that gave rise to the circumstances that placed her in Paris, in that car, with yet another questionable boyfriend on that fatal night. Had she been with the sons she is said to have doted on, then the story would have been so very different.
Yet what particularly astounds me is that ten years later, there is a highly publicised memorial service for this shallow individual. I cannot recall a similar event for past kings and queens, presidents, or potentates, so long after their death. Certainly not for our greatest Englishman Winston Churchill. Tony Blair, in recognising one of his own kind, memorably described her as ‘The People’s Princess’. Well she certainly wasn’t mine.
BERNIE ECCLESTONE is a diminutive man in stature, but a very big figure in the world of Formula One motor sport. He is reputed to be worth more than £2 billion and is the tenth richest man in Britain.
I only mention this because I can recall the time when he was a second-hand car and motorcycle salesman for Compton & Ecclestone, located near the top of Gravel Hill in Bexleyheath. This should give impetus to all those other potential car salesmen (or sales PERSONS) and have graduates queuing outside showrooms for jobs. But it was just as much about being in the right place at the right time, as for his undisputed ability in selling himself, as well as his vehicles in Bexleyheath, in the 1950’s.
THE TUBE WORKERS STRIKE in September was absolutely unnecessary and as usual caused misery for the travelling public and havoc to business and commerce. I say unnecessary because within 24 hours of the first walk-out the RMT union called off its action - although absolutely nothing had changed from the situation that existed prior to their walk-out.
The dispute centred on the uncertainty resulting from the collapse of the maintenance firm Metronet and workers were seeking absolute guarantees over their jobs and pensions. Had I been one of them, I also would have been anxious about my future prospects. TFL had however attempted to reassure them and this was generally accepted by members of the other unions involved, who didn’t see the sense in a senseless strike which would see them losing pay. But the militant RMT union, led by the obnoxious Bob Crow, were spoiling for a fight in the pretence it was a safety issue. They periodically flex their muscle to show where the strength lays and the egotistical Mister Crow must take great satisfaction from wielding so much power that he can bring the world’s capital city to a standstill.
In another age it would be called treason and the perpetrators would be incarcerated in the Tower. Yet I’ve no doubt that once again these highly paid employees of London Underground will be back for even more money and concessions and eventually we will see an ermine-clad Lord Crow of Subway on the red benches. But the long-suffering commuters will not always continue to placidly accept this treatment. It cannot be long until they turn violently on the people who are affecting their own job security and when this happens, it will take more than the British Transport Police to calm the uprising. But I suspect that the London Mayor will step in before that situation is reached and reward RMT members with even more goodies and penalise travellers with yet more fare rises. That’s how it usually works.
IN THE WEEK police are given the go-ahead to use their Taser guns on children, a hapless police officer accidentally shoots himself in the leg, getting into his car. Obviously he had overlooked the golden rule about keeping the safety catch on at all times when not deliberately discharging the weapon. Worrying isn’t it?
SO WE THOUGHT we had heard the last of John Prescott! Not so; like a good Socialist and his former boss Tony Blair, he continues to milk his position for all he can. He is being paid £300,000 to write his Memoirs, although in reality this task is actually being undertaken by a professional writer to ensure the right words appear in the correct order when this goes to press. This mediocre politician, who has spent a lifetime denigrating the ‘Tory Toffs’ is a traitor to his cause, but I doubt he even realises this and still believes he is a champion of the working classes. There can be no better example of why politicians are held in such low public esteem.
JUST ANOTHER KILLING just another day. I’m not referring on this occasion to Iraq or Afghanistan, but the streets of Great Britain, where children as young as eleven are being callously murdered. And as sure as night follows day, all the usual rhetoric is spouted by politicians and senior police officers, whom have it within their power to change things. Yet they continue to fail us. Why? Because they think more about protecting their pensions than the people. They are for example reluctant to step out of line by describing the race or colour of a dangerous suspect, even when essential to public safety. And there is no way they will give their support to the increasing public demand to restore capital punishment. They will come out with all the politically-correct jargon intended to show how intelligent they are, compared to the rest of us.
Yet we ignorant Philistines only want one thing to live our lives in peace and see those in authority act swiftly and decisively. Parliament has to be the ultimate law-maker and the Judiciary must ensure these laws are imposed effectively, with no interference from Brussels, or cases dropped on a simple technicality due to clever defence lawyers. Any politician canvassing for your vote should agree with this, or forfeit their right to represent you at the seat of power. And if none of them can support the return of Corporal and Capital Punishment, then don’t even bother turning up at the Polling Station.
THE LATEST REPORT on the ailing NHS includes blame on the increasing level of obesity among the population. In truth, the people really getting fat are the GP’s and consultants who are now paid in excess of £2,000 a WEEK, for doing LESS work. Even the militant Bob Crow couldn’t have forced a deal on this scale for his members.
‘AND NOW OVER TO DEBBY REYNOLDS, the Government Chief Veterinary Officer...’ The television news presenter’s announcement during the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease caused a mild flutter in the hearts of male viewers of a certain age, as they recalled the star of many Hollywood films. They were soon in for a shock! The appearance on their screens of the CVO brought them tumbling back to earth, as without wishing to be unkind, she has more in common with BURT Reynolds than the gorgeous Debby.