THE COWARDLY THUGS who threw a woman onto the track at Farningham Railway Station, should be tied securely to the rails at Clapham Junction and left there to sweat on the outcome. However, as much as I condemn their outrageous and despicable behaviour, I would also caution this unfortunate lady about her self-righteous disapproval that precipitated this incident and suggest she leaves it to station staff to deal with such infringements in future.
When the public smoking ban came into force, I failed to see the need to extend this to open air railway platforms. There have been occasions when I have had to wait up to thirty minutes for a train, having just missed one and would like to sit back and relax with my pipe, to contemplate the day ahead. And I can assure you that being surrounded by travelling morons engaged in loud twaddle on their mobiles – a smoke becomes more urgent than usual. There have been times when I have to confess to harbouring dark thoughts of shoving them and their infernal gadgetry over the edge of the platform out of sight.
But unlike that lady at Farningham Station, I adopt a more phlegmatic attitude to other people’s foibles – provided they make due allowance for mine. I wonder what she would have made of the scene at Waterloo Station in 1944 when troop trains were returning with wounded and exhausted soldiers and army nurses were handing out cigarettes and even lighting them for the limbless victims? I like to think she would have kept her thoughts to herself and even approved of this small comfort for our heroes.
IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG for the new London Mayor to be sucked into the politically-correct world of his predecessor. Many Londoner’s would have voted Boris Johnson into City Hall because of his lack of inhibition and to “tell it like it is,” appealing to the man and woman in the street, on the tube and in the pub. Of course he made gaffes by speaking off-the-cuff when confronted with leading questions from interviewers, but this was part of his appeal. His victory was seen by many as a breath of fresh air; here at last was an honest politician they could trust!
Sadly this was short-lived and he has been overcome by the shackles of office and succumbed to the pressure of minority opinion, by sacking his most loyal senior adviser. Why? Because James McGrath had given a response that Boris himself would have been proud of just a few months earlier. He simply stated that anyone not happy to accept the new regime at City Hall was free to leave. If this is a crime, then I have been personally guilty of it myself in the past, when I have suggested that anyone not happy with my style of management was free to find pastures new. I can see nothing wrong with this and certainly never felt the need to apologise. And neither should the Mayor.
This country and London is crying out for strong leadership and honest debate, where there can be no place for petty forensic examination of every word spoken or written, in case it might offend someone. I really thought that Boris was that very person, but this latest episode has shown him to be weak in the face of criticism. I wonder how those who voted for him feel now?
IT MIGHT SEEM TRIVIAL to you, but personally I don’t want to see senior politicians suit-less, tie-less, wearing shorts and trainers, riding bicycles in the high street, or shopping in a supermarket for their supper. So although I shouldn’t condone it, or laugh out loud, I was inwardly amused that one of David Cameron’s Hoodie buddies had stolen his beloved bicycle.
PROVOCATIVE Rap Music, offensive images and taunts on the Internet, hooded tops – all part of the culture responsible for inflaming vulnerable and easily influenced youths and inciting them to violence. Belonging to a gang they believe, makes them untouchable as they spread fear throughout their communities.
At the moment, it is an unpalatable truth that society in general and the authorities in particular appear powerless to stop this rot that is spreading like wildfire across the country, even now reaching the once peaceful English shires. So having identified what I consider to be major elements contributing to this worrying situation, why not specifically target them and cut off the oxygen that fuels these gangs. First, ban the sale of hooded garments. Accepting that a few decent people would be deprived of this questionable fashion, it would be a small price to pay. Young thugs have adopted this mode of dress as their ‘uniform,’ primarily to avoid identification and it is seen as threatening by older people. So let’s ban them now. You will recall the fuss when Prince Harry innocently wore a Nazi SS uniform at a private fancy dress party – well let’s make just as much fuss over the Hoodies in our midst.
Then we must deal with the provocative so-called Rap Music, containing violent and degrading lyrics, deliberately targeted at those easily led on to imitate this mantra by putting what they’ve heard into practise. Ban it from all radio stations and the web, with immediate effect. Also ban all persistent trouble-makers from owning mobile telephones and other forms of communication used for planning gang raids and filming their victims. Society has used its iron fist to effectively deal with child porn sites, so why not tackle these other scourges with equal ferocity and determination?
The London Mayor and the police are making noises about how this criminal behaviour should be approached, suggesting targeting the families of suspects. But let’s be realistic, how many mothers are going to ‘shop’ their offspring to those they still refer to as the ‘pigs?’ And the prosecution of a few unwitting shopkeepers will do little to remove the knives and other forms of weaponry from our streets.
I offer these suggestions to the Mayor and police chiefs at no expense to the public purse and hope at least they will give them some consideration, although I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers for an ultimate solution. Only a spell of hard labour and corporal punishment can achieve this, but who is going to have the courage to impose it?
WITH ALL THESE stabbings and shootings, we are in danger of becoming immune to such everyday incidents. However, I can admit that it is still possible for me to be shocked. The revelation that Doris Day is 84 and Kim Novak is now 75 has left me stunned. I much preferred it when Hollywood stars lied about their age and kept the illusion going.
MANY READERS will no doubt have been surprised at the Rich List published in our August edition, showing how much we are paying our Bexley councillors for their services to the community. This ranged from £9,000 to over £34,000, for what is essentially part-time work and when added to their pay for their day jobs puts them firmly in a class of their own. The combined payments came to an astounding £853,279. At least none of them will have to worry about paying the high council tax they impose on the rest of us.
They will of course argue that they work hard on our behalf and sacrifice their spare time to look after our interests, which I’m sure most of them do. I’m quite familiar with this lifestyle myself, having experienced it for some thirty years, but the difference being I was not paid for my time and rarely drew any expenses for money I had paid out in connection with my duties. I’ve heard it suggested that if they weren’t paid, no-one would volunteer to be a councillor. Absolute nonsense of course. There was never any shortage of dedicated citizens willing to serve the community before payments were introduced. A similar argument is put forward when recruiting full-time officers on exorbitant salaries. We are told we cannot expect to attract a Chief Executive for under £200,000 as anything less would leave the post vacant. Again, absolute nonsense. There are hundreds of private companies where chief executives earn only a fraction of this and their positions are constantly at risk from their clients and shareholders.
The fact is that there is no commercial pressure to control costs and salaries in the public sector, because budgets do not rely on sales and performance. If there is a shortfall in revenue, the council tax is adjusted to compensate and more money is extracted from you and me.
FOR A BRIEF MOMENT I thought the Serbian authorities had made a horrible mistake when they captured the heavily disguised Radovan Karadzic. I honestly thought it was the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams on holiday.
NOTHING IS EVER completely black and white, especially when aggrieved parties come from different backgrounds and cultures. I am unable to comment on the various actions currently being taken against the Metropolitan Police for alleged racial discrimination amongst senior officers, but what I can say, is that whilst all this sniping is going on in the upper echelons of Scotland Yard, who do you think is minding the shop?
I get the impression that the top floor executive suite is rife with petty jealousy, opportunism and naked ambition. It is an open secret that Sir Ian Blair is not well-liked among his colleagues, but then how many bosses are? You don’t win many bouquets in that position and being top of the tree can be a very lonely place. Which is why you should rightly at least expect loyalty from your lieutenants, if not their affection.
If this squabbling continues and accusations and counter-accusations of prejudice are not finally addressed once and for all, it can only result in a much weakened police service and severe loss of credibility. The police often refer to the gathering of intelligence. Well now is an opportunity to show they have some and concentrate on the job we pay them for.
LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, I’m bracing myself for a whopping increase in my gas and electricity bills. But this won’t concern the boss of my supplier, Scottish & Southern Energy, who is currently paid a staggering £1,208,000 in salary and bonuses. He must be the most hardworking and brilliant man on the planet!
IT WAS IRONIC that the day after I had attended the Army versus Navy cricket match at Lords, the newspapers reported that staff shortages in the armed forces was nearing crisis point. There was certainly no shortage of military personnel occupying the north and west stands on this particular day. I would predict that there were sufficient numbers, including the ‘has been’s’ like myself, to form a small army or control an insurrection in St. John’s Wood.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for inter-service sporting competitions for keeping the troops fit and alert and this is essential for team-building and discipline, whether on the playing fields or the battlefields. Historically our navy and army were responsible for introducing the complex game of cricket to the native populations of our colonies as far back as the early 17th century and this in itself was no bad thing. Except that their national teams now often beat us at our own game.
Recruiting Sergeants would find rich pickings if they visited Lords or Twickenham during these competitions, where the sight of a small red ball or a large oval one, is enough to bring out the fighting spirit in our troops – and even a few old soldiers like myself.
SOME PEOPLE have been heard to say they wish that Tony Blair was still in Number 10. Are they mad – or just suffering from amnesia?
BELEAGURED GORDON BROWN didn’t look particularly happy or relaxed on his seaside holiday. So what? Why should he have to pretend he was enjoying himself just to please the rest of us, when it is patently obvious he would rather have been back in the office dealing with the contents of his Red Box. There’s no shame in that; I’m sure plenty of men feel coerced into taking this enforced mid-summer interruption from the job they enjoy, just because it is traditionally expected.
When I see pictures of exhausted travellers at airports being harassed by over-officious officials, or searching for their lost luggage, (like the Boris Johnson family at Gatwick), I feel pity for them. When I listen to traffic reports of long tailbacks and pile-ups on the motorways, I inwardly thank God I am not among this group of lemmings. When I observe natural white bodies burned to a frazzle on their return to these shores, I wince with discomfort. And I feel so sorry for teenagers forced to follow their parents around, looking bored stiff and wishing they were anywhere but there. What really gets me is when people ask “so where are you off to this year?” as an excuse to inform you of their own plans for an exotic destination, as if it is some achievement to be proud of. I swear that the next time I am asked this leading question, I shall proudly reply “Southend-on-Sea actually.”
I DO WISH the Chinese had not put on such a spectacular and extravagant opening ceremony to their Olympic Games. Now I fear London will feel obliged to compete with this and add even more noughts to its already out of control budget - and our taxes.