£7.5 million home in Epping Forest bought for cash

Just seen an Essex Live report on Twitter that 9,500 homes in Essex were purchased last year by buyers who paid for their new properties outright with cash.

The most expensive one was in Epping Forest which sold for £7.5 million  –  in cash.   The report doesn’t say where the house was but it guesses it was one that sold in High Road, Chigwell.

The fact it was cash does not, of course, mean that it changed hands for a great wad of dirty £50 notes, although it may have done!   It means that the purchasers didn’t buy it with a mortgage.

It reminded me that when I was Agent for Epping Forest it was always said that houses changed hands in a certain road in Chigwell as people went in and out of prison, or alternatively had to leave the country in a hurry.   But that can’t possibly be true of Chigwell !

Congratulations, Mayor Boris

Well, we’ve waited all day for the London result, and it was sure worth waiting for.

A high turnout, one of the highest ever in London;  over a million first preference votes for Boris;  and a majority of almost 150,000 on the first preference votes, and 140,000 on the combined first and second.   53% of the vote for Boris and 47% for Ken.

The London Mayoral election is quite unlike any other.   The media attention and the pressure are enormous.   I was there for the first ever Mayoral election in 2000.   We had a basement headquarters office for our inner team, and every time we stuck our noses outside there were a couple of TV crews there.   I know how hard Boris’s team has worked this time.  If it was anything like us it was 18 hours a day, seven days a week.   So congratulations to Boris’s team, and to all the London Conservative Associations for their hard work.

I have to be a bit biased and say that Steve Norris was a strong and popular candidate on two occasions.   I believe that if he had stood again, in the current political climate, he would have won.   But that takes nothing from what Boris has done.

The first Conservative Mayor of London  –  congratulations and we’re expecting great things from you.

Don’t tar all MPs staff with the same brush

I’m not going to comment on the Derek Conway matter, other than to say I would have thought he had more sense.

But I will say again, as I have before, that we must not generalize and let individual cases tar the whole system.

In fact, the House of Commons authorities have strict rules about Members’ staff, will only include them on the payroll if there is a proper contract of employment, and these days there are also scales of appropriate payment for particular jobs.

Most of the wives, sons and daughters, and a few husbands, who work for their spouse or parent are doing a fairly thankless job, working hard, and putting in long hours to do all in their power to make sure the MP is providing a good service to his/her constituents.

Part of the time that I worked in the Commons, I had the privilege to be located around the other side of the horseshoe that was the Lower Ministerial Corridor from the office of Neil Hamilton, where the doughty Christine presided.   I can say with absolute certainty, not least because of the volume of her voice, that here was one MP’s wife who was in the office and working hard all day. 

Consent for organ donation must be left for the individual to decide

Because I’m a very contrary person the news today that Whiny Dog Broon wants to change the arrangement for organ donor registration has hit me hard.

I’ve carried a donor card since they were first introduced, and put my name on the central register of donors when that was set up.   I can’t understand why more people don’t register as donors.   Well actually I can’t understand why everyone doesn’t.   My organs will be no good to me after I’m dead, so, if they are any use for others, they might as well have them.   And that goes for things like corneas too.

But now I feel rather like I did when compulsory seatbelts were brought in.   I’d been using one for years because it made sense, but I don’t like being compelled to do things, especially where I was doing the thing voluntarily anyway.   Compulsion makes me feel I’m one of those doing wrong that the government wants to catch.   So, I almost feel like tearing up my donor card.

But I won’t, because I truly believe in organ donation.   But that’s the whole point.   It’s a donation.   It’s not up to the government to force it on people.

At present there are probably people who have religious or ethical beliefs that make them think organ donation is wrong.   Then there are a lot more who have always meant to do it, but just haven’t got round to it.   Well, they need encouraging.   The government should have a regular programme of promotion for the organ donor scheme.

It may seem like a good thing to have an opt out system.   It will most certainly increase hugely the number of organs available for transplant, and Broon says that people will be able to opt out if they want to.   Probably though they or their relatives will be under intense pressure and will either not realize they can opt out, or will be nervous about doing it.

It isn’t just that aspect, though.   It’s a nasty first step along the way of denying individual freedom about what one does with one’s own body.   It’s quietly putting the idea about that we and our bodies belong to the state, and the state will dispose of us and our bodies as it sees fit.

Big Brother and 1984 again.   A Labour government beginning to show what its agenda really is  –  total control.

Keep Reg in the Bill

When The Bill first started on television, my late Father used to love seeing the opening credits which appeared over two police officers, one male, one female, walking along a street.   The camera was on their feet, and all you saw was these two pairs of police feet plodding along.

Well, The Bill has gone a long way since then, not all for the better.   Some of the story lines are so incredible as to be just stupid.   How many times now has the police station caught fire/been bombed/under siege?   The site is clearly jinxed.

The other change is the personnel, with some well-loved characters leaving, some by choice, some not.  These days the young officers seem more concerned with their love life than the cases they have to deal with.   I miss Supt Brownlow, Chief Inspector Derek Conway, Station Sergeant Bob Cryer, and Sergeant June Ackland, all long-serving members of the Sun Hill force.

I’m glad DCI Jack Meadows is still with us.   He’s been at Sun Hill for many years, despite a somewhat chequered career at times.  

But the only one still at Sun Hill who has been there right from the beginning is PC Reg Hollis.   Still a PC after all this time.   One hesitates to say it, but he is the Benny from Crossroads, the David from Heartbeat; the lovable but slightly irritating one.   But that’s unfair.   Reg is intelligent, experienced, brave, and has a lot of successes under his belt.

I’ve been a long time getting to it, but I was distressed to read today that Reg, actor Jeff Stewart, has been told that his contract will not be renewed.   And even more distressed to learn that, when Jeff got this news, he attempted suicide on the set by cutting his wrists in his dressing room. 

Having been in The Bill since it began 24 years ago, one can understand how he must have felt.   He is sure typecasted, and would have trouble getting other work, but I think it’s more than that.   The programme has become his life, and he simply doesn’t want to leave it.

Thankfully, the attempt was unsuccessful.   Jeff was taken to hospital, and has been since discharged. 

Let’s keep some degree of reality in the programme.   Let’s keep PC Hollis.   My message to ITV and the company making the programme is  –  Keep Reg in The Bill.

Two stories have moved me today

I don’t do sentiment.   I was one of the alleged minority unmoved when you know who died at the end of August 1997.

But two things I have read today have moved me.

First, the news that the parents of a boy with a rare cancer have decided to stop his treatment so that his last days can be lived as normally and as happily as possible.

This boy was diagnosed six years ago with a rare form of cancer affecting his brain and his spine.   Now aged ten, he has had to undergo several operations, and both chemo and radiotherapy.   After each bout of surgery a small part of the tumour remained, and grew.   Last August he had his latest operation, which confined him to hospital for nearly five months.   The procedure led to complications, which meant a tracheotomy was needed to help his breathing, and he had to be fed directly into his stomach.   And, the final blow, he contracted MRSA during that stay and had to be in isolation for much of the time.   He has no pelvic strength and is unable to walk.

The parents, who are now separated, have decided together that their son should no longer have to endure painful procedures and lengthy hospital stays.   They want him to spend his remaining time enjoying himself, and the first plan is a visit to Disneyland Florida, which had already been planned twice and then cancelled because of the treatments.

What a terrible decision for parents to have to make.   But they have shown their love and care for their boy by agreeing to all these difficult treatments over the last six years.  Now I think they have made the right decision.   Their son can be spared the painful treatments and hospital stays, can be with his parents and his brother, and have some enjoyable and exciting experiences before his life ends.   The parents can spend some quality time with their son, free from hospital wards and machines, and will be able to remember him enjoying his remaining time. 

The second piece I read was part of the appeal The Times is conducting for the Princess Royal’s Trust for Carers.   The story was of a young teenage girl who lives with her sick mother and cares for her.   If the details in the story are correct, it appears that the only help the mother receives is a carer who gets her up each morning, and another who takes her once a week to do the supermarket shopping from her wheelchair.  

Other than that, the daughter does all the caring.   She cooks, cleans and launders.   Each night she undresses her mother, drags her upstairs because the stairlift does not work, gives her a shower, and puts her to bed.   She goes to school, but comes home at lunch-time to make sure her mother is OK, and often does not go back because of what she finds.   So, her school work has suffered.   She cannot stay after school anyway for clubs and so on, because she must rush home to look after her mother.    And the other kids tease and bully her because she is different.

The little family is so short of money that there is nothing spare for luxuries.   After buying school uniform, there was no money for other clothes for the girl.   Social Services provided a loan for a new bed for the mother, that was urgently needed, but she is having to pay it back at £20 a week out of her benefits.   The daughter was told there would be no money for Christmas presents for her.

We hear a lot about poverty and some of it is not what would have been understood as poverty 50 years ago.   But the story outlined above is real poverty.   How can we allow this to happen?   It is not the woman’s fault that she is so ill.   Even less is it the daughter’s fault.  But in addition to all else they have the constant worry of no money.

Why does this woman not receive a proper level of care?   If she did not have a daughter she would be completely alone, and the state would have to care for her.   Why should a child be expected to take on this totally unacceptable burden?   Why do the authorities expect her to do it? 

I have no doubt the daughter wants to do all she can for her mother, but she should be given much more support.   There should be carers calling at the house several times a day and taking over most of those duties which no child should be expected to perform for a parent. 

Oh I say……..

Of course, I’m delighted that Ian McKellen, already a Knight, has been made a Companion of Honour, and that Parky has become a Knight.

But the award in the New Year’s Honours which I was most pleased to see was the CBE for Leslie Phillips.

Going right back to the days of “The Navy Lark” on the radio, Leslie has given so much joy to the millions who have seen and heard him.   And he’s a fine straight actor too, as his rarer dramatic outings have shown.

I thank him for the many great laughs he has given me.   This honour is well deserved.

Locked in the lavatory, no hairdresser, but she still triumphed!

What little gems come out of the National Archives each year when the release date for a particular story is reached.

It is wonderful to imagine Mother Thatcher being locked in the lavatory  –  albeit at a posh hotel in Houston  –  and poor old Denis got stuck there as well.   And then the information that she, Leader of the Opposition at the time, was not provided with a hairdresser or someone to press her dress.   A secretary had to take Mother’s clothes home to wash as there were no laundry facilities.   Apparently the visit was considered to be very successful.

Interesting, too, to learn that in 1977 the Labour Government prepared a briefing paper about her speeches and said……..

“the dominant characteristics of Mrs Thatcher’s speeches is that they say very little.   She never goes into details of Conservative policy on particular topics…………  This is clearly a considered approach…………  Nevertheless she is putting together a programme which will enable her to enter the next election with very few specific commitments.”

If that sounds like criticisms made in the last year or so about David Cameron, just remember Mrs T went on to a massive victory two years later!

Benazir Bhutto

Another tragic day for the world  –  and one which has seen the assassination of another woman who climbed to the top in her country against all the odds in a conservative muslim state.

Some of the obits have been less than generous in reviewing her life and achievements, but she was loved by vast numbers of her fellow countrymen and women.  

She returned to Pakistan knowing her life would be in danger from the moment she stepped on its soil.   She died while fighting an election campaign which looked as though she had a good chance of winning, and just after addressing a public meeting. 

Apart from the personal tragedy for her family and her party, her death signals a new and worrying step on the road which could lead to outright civil war.   Riots have already started.   Pakistan is poised on a knife edge.  Remember the country is a nuclear power.   2008 could see the start of bloody conflict, and victory for the medieval Taleban poised in the north.

This troubled region causes ever more problems for its own population and for the rest of the world.   We must all hope the violence does not escalate.

More BBC bias around today’s PMQs

Sometimes I think my television has totally different programmes beamed to it from those seen by the TV commentators.

I’ve just watched Prime Minister’s Questions.   It was real exciting stuff.   At times the background noise from the backbenchers almost drowned out the speakers, and when it ended poor Michael Martin simply could not control the uproar as Members rushed to leave the Chamber. 

David Cameron chose to ask his permitted questions on the disgraceful news about the 25 million personal records lost by HMRC.   That was absolutely the right decision.

I thought he did outstandingly well.   Each of his questions was sharp and to the point, and contained good soundbites, which people will remember.   In particular the comment that  Broon tries to control everything but actually can’t run anything.   I thought he riled Broon, especially with the later questions.

He asked if the Prime Minister would accept any responsibility as he had been in charge of the overseeing Department until very recently, and during the time when a number of previous lapses in data security had occurred.   (Of course, they promised then that measures had been taken to see such a thing could not occur again!)   Broon completely ignored the question and went on about reviews again.   No way he was accepting any responsibility.   And he keeps on about the reviews looking at the security of data in the private and public sectors.   It’s the public sector we’re concerned about.   If we don’t like what the private sector is doing we can go elsewhere. 

But that Red Petticoat was showing again at the BBC.   I’m disappointed with Andrew Neill in The Daily Politics today.   He’s not usually as pro government, anti opposition, but this morning he started the bias.   He declared that Broon had done well;  Cameron’s shafts had not hit home;  by apologising and announcing reviews Broon had taken the sting out of anything that Cameron threw at him.   Margaret Jay naturally snatched at this, and maintained that Broon had done well, had not been at all damaged, and that Cameron was just an opportunist.   The Conservative present was Chris Grayling.   Now Chris Grayling has been one of the stars of recent months.   He is like a tiger in his pursuit of the government, holding them to account, and is a good performer.   But he was given very little chance to speak.   Then comes BBC Political Editor, Nick Robinson, hotfoot from the Press Gallery  –  because of a power failure the programme was being conducted outside in the cold on Abingdon Green  –  and he was just so partial.   He maintained Broon had done well, and that Labour backbenchers were pleased with him, and certainly didn’t have any unease about the PM’s performance.   Cameron had certainly not won the encounter today.

Next, Stephen Dorrell appeared.   Andrew Neill drew a comparison between the Broon government now and the later years of the John Major government, and asked Stephen to comment as a senior minister in the Major government.   Now, I have to declare that I am and always have been a Major fan, so I’m glad that Stephen drew a distinction between the two governments, pointing out that Major always backed his ministers.

But then two things proved that my television had not been showing a sanitized version of PMQs just to please me.

Co-presenter, Jenny Scott, read out a selection of e-mails from viewers.   Without exception they condemned what has happened at HMRC and condemned the government.   That’s what ordinary people think, who are not part of the BBC leftie political hothouse.

And then reporter, Ann Alexander, arrived.   She had been talking to Labour backbenchers as they left the Chamber.   She said that they were all very worried about what has happened, about the consequences for their constituents, not at all convinced by what Broon had to say, and that there was a feeling of very deep unease on the Labour back benches.

So, what about Broon’s reviews?   He really is obsessed with them.   Anything that comes up, he sets up a review.   Well that means he doesn’t actually have to do anything, he just announces another review.   How ever many must there now be that have been set up by Broon?

So he sets up reviews rather than doing anything, and then he had the cheek to accuse Cameron of being all talk and no action.   It’s obviously escaped Broon’s notice that it’s supposed to be the government that takes the action;  the opposition are somewhat hampered in that it’s not their job, they can’t take action.

On a different subject, there was also a piece on hospital superbugs.  Cheryl Baker, formerly of Buck’s Fizz, had a short film about Maidstone Hospital where her mother-in-law had died as a result of contracting C.Difficile.   Naturally she feels strongly on the subject, particularly as her father-in-law is now in the same hospital.   Co-presenter Jenny Scott then questioned her about the case, and, would you believe, felt bound to list for us all the things which the Labour government has done to try to put things right!   Shame they haven’t worked!   More bias!