Knife Crime epidemic in London - Roger Tichborne speaks on BBC Radio London today

I've got a son of seventeen and daughters of twenty and twenty two. I cannot imagine the horror of losing them. I think the pain would, if not kill me, then cast the darkest shadow over the rest of my life. How as a parent, could I ever cope? I really don't think I could. A friend lost his son in a tragic canoeing accident in New Zealand a couple of years ago. I simply couldn't think of anything to say to him then and I still can't. How much worse, when someone deliberately kills your child? All I can do is write blogs in the vain hope someone listens. I was on the Vanessa Feltz Show this morning talking about the issue of the knife crime. Listen at 02:12:48.

Back in 2012 and 2013, I made two documentary films about the London Borough of Barnet in association with film director Charles Honderick. One of the things we did was interview two different Borough commanders of Barnet. Following that, I also had conversations with several other senior officers. On the record the police were happy to talk about the Borough of Barnet, the day to day policing and the crime stats. Off the record, they talked about far more wide ranging issues. They stressed that it is not the job of police to set Police policies. That is the job of politicians and governments. For that reason they were unwilling, on the record, to criticise the policies of the government of the day, but they were more than happy to give their personal opinion, on the basis that this was off the record.

A common theme that was mentioned was the effect cuts were having on outreach programs, community support work and youth work. I know a fair bit about the work the Police were doing and the work they were supporting. This video was shot at our studios in 2010 to support an anti Gun and Knife program. Mobo award winning artist Patrick Leacock lead a recording session at my studios where young people put together a recording and a video to spread the message that guns and knives are not the solution.

Breakdancing Policeman

Another example was the breakdancing policeman at the Edgware Community festival run by Nutmeg.
When I discussed this, all mentioned that Police budget cuts had meant that they could no longer afford to run these programs. The obvious question I asked was "what effect will this have?" The answer was chilling, although I didn't truly understand it at the time. One said "If these budget cuts are not reversed, then the links between the police and the community will be damaged, trust will be lost between young people and the local officers. We've spent years building up trust and mutual respect through hard work and if we lose this we will find ourselves standing at the edge of a precipice" He went on "As Police budgets are cut, we have to concentrate our resources on core policing. Programs and initiatives that work, but can't be statistically quantified in the short term will go. In five years time, all of the kids who are now eleven or twelve and just starting to venture out on the streets will have grown up in an environment where the police are only seen in difficult circumstances. There will be little trust. Policing works when it is supported by the community. If the community doesn't want to work with the police, then the whole system breaks down. If these cuts continue, we will be facing a very difficult situation in five years time".

And so here we are. Our government has sown the wind, now it is reaping the whirlwind. It seems that every day we awake to another tragic death on our streets. In January, Mill Hill saw a tragic death in the High Street. Three youths were involved in an incident where shopkeeper Vijay Patel died. Our local MP, Matthew Offord arranged a meeting and invited Borough Commander Simon Rose to speak and outline what the police were doing. The Borough Commander made what I believe was a diplomatic, but misleading statement. There had been a series of other violent crimes in Mill Hill. He stated that all were unrelated and the "spike" in such incidents were unrelated. In the strictest sense of the words, his statement was correct, but in a court of law you should give the Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth. Applying this test to what was happening, I believe that the Commander should have given a different answer. I believe he should have said "The Metropolitan Police have had eight years of budget cuts as a result of austerity, all of the youth programs and outreach work we were doing has been cut. As a result, we are seeing more youth crime and a breakdown of trust between marginalised young people and society in general. This can only lead to more crime in our society". Of course the Borough commander couldn't say that. It's not his job to be political or embarrass Mr Offord . It is not the job of the police to get involved in Politics. As such, the whole truth was not told.

There are two schools of thought on how policing and the criminal justice system should work. There is the viewpoint that the job of the police is to catch criminals and the job of the criminal justice system is to lock them up for as long as possible. The supporters of this view believe that it is not the job of the state to try and reform criminals and that the simple act of locking people up on long sentences will deter others. Then there is the view that the Police and the criminal justice system are just a part of a wider, integrated society. The Police should both work to prevent crime and catch criminals and the criminal justice system should try and reform those who it is possible to reform, whilst locking up those who are truly dangerous.

I subscribe to the second view. I have no trouble at all calling for rapists, murders and child molesters to be stuck in jail until they can't possibly harm anyone ever again. I am all for long sentences for such people. But when a fifteen year old is caught with a knife, I believe that the most counter productive thing you could give them for a first offence is a long sentence. A very good friend of mine developed a serious drug habit several years ago. He got caught up in a criminal gang and ended up serving 12 months of a three year sentence for a series of robberies of gaming machines at motorway service stations. He told me that when he went to prison, the first week was the worst. The first few nights when the door slams locked, the lights go off and you hear all manner of noises from other cells is truly scary. He said that after about a week you adjust. I asked him about what he thought. He suggested that unless people do something which indicates they are dangerous, he'd lock them up for a week on the first offence, then give them the option to defer the sentence at the end of the week. If they did it again, they'd serve their sentence in full plus the additional sentence for any subsequent crime. He said that as they emerge, they should be given all the support they need to reform. He told me that on his wing only a couple of other prisoners could read or write. Most couldn't function in the outside world. He hated prison, not having his girlfriend or other friends. He came out off drugs and reformed. Sadly he died a year later of cancer, but it was clear he'd changed. He said that the change had come after a couple of days. I asked if the year in prison had been what reformed him. His response was enlightening "The point at where I realised I had to change was when I was free of drugs and had time to contemplate what had happened. By the time I was three or four months in, the lesson had been learned. After six months, it was actually a struggle not to get back into drugs to counter the boredom, the prison was awash with them, but I just wanted to get out and get my head together". His view was that whilst people have substance issues they are unlikely to reform, as they will always have to gravitate to criminal networks. He also told me that many of the people in prison were building up their network to do things when they got out.

I have to conclude that from my discussions with the police and those on the receiving end of the justice system, we have got it wrong. I am not going to play the blame game. What we need is to start looking forward rather than back. Here is what I would like to see happen. I don't believe the costs of any of this would make anyone materially worse off. I believe that it would lead to a drop in insurance premiums in the medium to long term, which would offset any additional taxation costs. Here's my ten point plan.

1. Restore Police budgets and resume police outreach and community work.
2. Ensure all offenders and prisoners have proper access to drug rehabilitation programs.
3. Ensure all offenders and prisoners have proper mentoring and support to reintegrate into society.
4. Give young offenders early release with sentences deferred if no re offending.
5. Identify areas of gang activity and develop programs to address these (along the lines of the Glasgow project)
6. Set up an OFSTED like grading system for Local Councils for crime and environmental quality. If issues are not addressed, have the option of putting a council into special measures.
7. Legally protect budgets and give planning protection for youth clubs, football pitches, sports facilities, music studios, community halls etc.
8.  Give tax breaks to companies to sponsor youth projects and local sports teams.
9. Make sure that every person with substance abuse issues has local facilities available to them to assist with solving their problems.
10. Include the number of people receiving a criminal conviction within three years of leaving a school in the schools OFSTED report and put those with high offending rates into special measures. Schools should also be marked down for exclusions, as these contribute to illiteracy, which is another cause of crime.

As I said at the start of this blog, the thought of losing a child terrifies me. My nephew saw a child knifed to death in the playground at Edgware School in 2005. I thought "What can I do personally?". The answer was that I supported a youth music scheme in Barnet for two years, I out in £10,000 towards the SoundSkool project that you see featured in the video above. It was hosted at my studio for three years. Then it stopped as we couldn't get any more funding to keep running it. It is now based in Enfield.  It is clear that we need to get the community behind such projects. If you have any ideas for a project, I have a studio and I will support you as best I can.  We can't abandon our children. We must do something.

Vanessa Feltz - Ignorant, uncarings and talking crap

This morning, I cannot contain my anger. I was woken up with a nice cup of tea and a copy of the Daily Express. I like to wake myself up by reading the football pages. I then flicked through the rest of the paper. I daresay one or two of you will be surprised at my choice of morning paper. Well unlike many people, I enjoy reading things which I don't agree with. It makes me think about things. It also means that when I'm in the pub and someone starts spouting nonsense (or writing it in a right wing blog such as the Barnet Bugle) I have my thought process sorted out.Given that I won't have the Sun (for reasons too many to list here) or the Mail (my father wouldn't tolerate a paper which courted the fascists in the house and that's good enough for me) in the house, that leaves the Express.

This morning, sifting through the usual waffle and immigrant bashing, I came across the Vanessa Feltz column. She talks about the current scheme of government sponsored slave labour (work for nothing or we'll stop your benefits) - http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/304860/Getting-a-foot-in-the-door - She says

Everyone knows it’s well nigh impossible to land a job without experience. So the Government’s current batch of work-experience schemes, in which recipients of Job Seekers’ Allowance are given the chance to work for reputable companies such as Tesco and TK Max for a couple of months seems like a perfect solution.


The jobless are propelled off the sofa and into the workplace. The uninitiated learn how to stack shelves, sweep yards, fry chips, greet customers, show up on time and conduct themselves professionally.

Later on she talks about working for two years at the BBC for nothing and says

These days I present the Radio 2 early Breakfast Show too. That’s four and half hours of live radio every week day. If I hadn’t got stuck in for free I’d never have stood a chance. 

As I'm sure you can guess, there are many things I take issue with Ms Feltz about. First though, lets consider why unemployment is spiralling out of control and young people are finding it hard to become employed. This is nothing to do with lazyness, it is because the current government has taken a political decision to impose a period of austerity on the nation. Now whether you think this is right or wrong (a debate for another day), the effect is that young people cannot get a job.It is not the fault of the victims of this policy, so please don't portray them as lazy or workshy.

And then there is the effect of this slave labour. Presumably if Tesco's are taking people for free to do unskilled work, then that means that for every person working for free, one paid job has been destroyed. Only an economic imbecile (George Osborne?) would take such jobs out of the economy at a time of economic crisis. What work ethic does slave labour instill in people? "If you go to work, you don't get anything"? What sort of a message is that?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for unpaid work. I volunteer for a homeless charity once a week. It actually costs me money, because I have to travel to Victoria at 6.30am every Thursday. I also write this blog for nothing. It may surprise you to learn that I've been offered several highly paid jobs as a result of people reading this. People seem to think I've some talent for PR. I've declined, because all of them have been promoting things which I think are reprehensible. What is quite bizarre is the response of people when I tell them I'm not in the slightest bit interested, however much they want to pay me.

I read the likes of Vanessa Feltz comments and I feel sick. I doubt anyone has a stronger work ethic than me. I first started doing paid work aged 4 1/2. I was in a commercial for Tizer in 1966. Other commercials followed, Heinz baked beans, Galaxy Chocolate, Cadburys chocolate to name but a few. I also did countless fashion shoots. My career stopped aged 8 when my mother developed cancer and could no longer take me. At age 16, I had enough money in my bank account to start my studio business (albiet in a small way). And the other jobs I did before I was 16. Washed cars at my fathers garage, delivered papers, worked as a saturday boy at the butchers. Perhaps the most audacious of the lot was when I was 15 and I bunked off school for three weeks before Xmas and worked at the Medical research in Mill Hill. I wanted the money to pay for a guitar. That was when I found out what it is like to work for free. When my scam came to light, the agency refused to pay me, claiming it was "illegal to pay a 15 year old". I've always believed in standing up for my rights and eventually got paid. Sadly I suspect that it was more to do with being large and aggressive than anything else.

So sure, yes I can lecture anyone on the "merits of hard work". Ever since I've worked I've done 2,3 or even 4 jobs at the same time.(if you call blogging a job). I run three successful businesses (all built from nothing by me and the people who work for me), I employ nine people. I go on expensive holidays and I pay myself dividends. So yes, in some ways I'm a rich capitalist bastard. But do I think it is all because I'm a genius or better than anyone else? Far from it. I realise that all of it is an accident of birth. I had parents who helped and supported me. Realising I had learning difficulties and would probably never go to University, they encouraged me to do my own thing. My father made a workshop in his garage available to me for music. I did the work to bring it up to spec and paid a rent, but he suggested it. You see, what Vanessa Feltz fails to realise is that  the kind of kids who are forced to stack shelves at Tescos, don't get offered internships at the BBC. They get exploited and then cast away.

I've spent the last five months helping a young filmmaker, Charles Honderick make a film. It's called "A Tale of Two Barnets". It is full of stories of people who have been failed by society. Can I let you in on a secret. The film has cost me personally a fortune to make. If I ever make a penny back it will be a miracle. I hope to God that Charles gets a foot on the ladder as a result of it. He's sweated blood making it. He's eaten us out of house and home when we've been working on edits. Why? Because he's skint and I've got a well stocked fridge. But he's doing it because it is something he loves and he knows that if you want to succeed in the creative world, this is called paying your dues.  This is totally different to stacking the shelves in Tescos. This is why I think Vanessa Feltz is talking crap.

Why superinjunctions are wrong

Let me tell you about Mrs Beans (not her real name). She loves up the road. Every morning, Mr Beans jumps onto the train at Mill Hill Broadway with a rather large smile on his face. Why? Because Mrs Beans has a rather high libido. Mr Beans may not have quite such a big smile though, if he knew that shortly after he left, Ted the milkman nips in to, shall we say, supply Mrs Beans with some gold top. Once Ted resumes his round, Harry the window cleaner nips in to ensure that Mrs Beans frame is thoroughly serviced. Rumour has it that even Rev Reggie has been known to nip in to take a "private confession" or two. I'm sure you all find this fascinating, but I doubt it will make the front page of the Sun. Why? Because no one has ever heard of Mrs Beans, Mr Beans or her entourage of admirers. They are private individuals. If the Sun did decide to expose Mrs Beans, she's too skint to do anything about it. She'd probably end up doing a topless shoot for them, to help make ends meet, once her little world collapsed. For someone like her, I'd say a superinjunction was fair enough. The Sun could ruin her life. Sadly she hasn't got the means to actually afford one.

What about the Premiership footballers, who use them to silence interest in their shenanigans. Well hang on, don't they receive millions for their image rights? They get paid by companies to promote their products. They put themselves up as icons. What about the likes of Andrew Marr. He claims he didn't want his family to be upset. Well don't shag around then Andrew. You have chosen a career in the spotlight. You have to take it.

A law which protects the rich and famous, who exploit their image for personal gain, but is beyond the reach of ordinary people, who court no publicity and just happen to find themselves in the middle of media storms is a bad law. I don't really care if the Wayne Rooney's of this world wants to pay grannies for sex, I have no interest in whether John Terry shags his mates girlfriends. I don't bother reading those stories. I do however think if these guys are exploiting their image rights, we do have a right to know what sort of image they really have. As for Marr, he's been exposed as a total hypocrite.

I have a small amount of experience of what it's like to be on the receiving end of bad press coverage. When I went to the standards committee in Barnet, Brian Coleman went on the Vanessa Feltz show and told a stack of lies about me. The biggest lie was that  I'd abused his 83 year old mum in my blog. Vanessa said "what sort of person abuses someones 83 year old mum" I immediately rang up and told Vanessa that the charge was a lie, and told her to check the blog. She did, I was vindicated and Coleman exposed as a liar. She read what I said about Brians mum and commented that it was extremely complimentary (I'd mentioned in passing she shared the name Gladys with my own mum). They repeated the fact that Coleman had lied all morning (presumably so I didn't charge them with libel). The point is though, if like me you've not committed the crime, then you can do something about it. If like Terry & Rooney, you have then you should man up and take it.

Lynne Hillan on Vanessa Feltz show - 1st March 2010

Here is what Leader of the Council Lynne Hillan had to say on BBC London radio yesterday.

She talks how larger developers will get a better service in planning, through having their own "relationship manager".  Clearly Lynne Hillan forgets that the contribution of the ordinary taxpayers dwarfs the pittance these rich developers are paying. Whilst a developer pays a one off fee for a development, a Council tax payer such as me pays the sum year on year every year.  In my council tax band I pay over £2000 per year. If I pay this for 60 years, thats £120,000 I'll pay in my lifetime to Barnet Council. Any special treatment? No chance

Show me your tits !!!!!

I am angry, really angry today. I feel like smashing my head as hard as I possibly can against the concrete wall in our kitchen. Why, you may ask? What has riled the normally placid and cheerful Rog T to such an extent?

Let me tell you what - The Vanessa Feltz show on BBC London this morning, thats what. Not the excellent Ms Feltz who is a superb radio talk show presenter, but the subject matter. You see they were discussing breast cancer and reconstructive surgery. I'm 47 years old and I doubt there's anyone my age who hasn't lost friends or family to this horrible disease.

Breast Cancer is always viewed as a "womens issue". Listening to the Feltz show, it did strike me that men are a big part of the problem. I doubt that any man would rather have a dead wife than a wife with a mastectomy. As such men should leave their loved ones in no doubt about this at all times. I think that this is one issue where women really don't understand how men think.

What really upsets me is the way we live in a society where women die because they are worried about their body image and so refuse to have surgery. I first became aware of this problem by accident. In 1981 as an 18 year old, I bowled into the culture centre in Stockholm. The entire length of a wall was covered in pictures of breasts. Some were perfectly formed, some were rather strange (to an 18 year old who's chief source of information about breasts was page 3 of the Sun). Some were horribly mutilated. This was my first day in Stockholm, and I naively thought that this was indicative of a Swedish obsession with all things sexual.

As I pondered this rather (to me) shocking display at Stockholms premier art venue, a rather attractive blond sidled up to me and said something completely unintelligable (in Swedish). I responded that I was English and couldn't understand. She replied "Oh, then you probably don't understand what this is all about then?". As I didn't I replied in the negative. My new found friend told me that it was part of a massive drive to raise awareness in women about breast cancer. She said that the pictures were all before and after shots of women who'd had reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy. The message was that there is no reason why women should fear the effects of the operation. As I was the first English teenager to see the installation, she was interested to canvass my views. I was shocked that women should refuse life saving surgery purely because they thought society may perceive them in any way as inferior. My own mother had a massive operation for cancer in 1970 and was very sensitive for a while about her scar. My Dad had told her that she looked better in a swimsuit than a bikini anyway and she should get on with her life.

Having spent a very interesting 45 minutes in conversation and being guided around the display, I realised that health education has huge importance. 28 Years later, in Great Britain, women are still more scared of being viewed as "odd" by society, than they are of dying a horrible and preventable death. As I contemplated the issue, I thought back to the Swedish display. I think the time has come to go on the offensive against this atrocious disease and get the message over that a mastectomy  is not the end of anything for the vast majority of women that have one. It is just a ticket to a healthy life and the cosmetic issues can normally be addressed successfully.

What I'd like to do is recreate the exhibition I saw in Stockholm, but in a way that everyone would have to take notice. I'd like to plaster the 4th Plinth with pictures of successful cosmetic surgery following Mastectomies. I am completely serious in this suggestion. the British have been too prudish about too many things for too long and it has cost thousands of lives. Putting a display on the 4th Plinth would get huge publicity and might actually change a few peoples perception of the issue and save a few lives.If anyone knows Boris and how I get my display onto the plinth, please let me know.

It enrages me that we live in a society where page three is fine and dandy, but the results of life saving surgery are seen as grotesque and fearsome. This is a battle we really must win.

I think quite enough people have suffered, don't you?

Class A hypocrisy from Brian Coleman

I could not believe my ears. I was lying in bed, listening to the Vanessa Feltz show and who pops up to say what a marvellous job Barnet Council are doing? None other than our ubiquitous Mayor Brian Coleman. In the course of the broadcast he made a statement that made me spill my tea. Asked why schools in Barnet were shut, he said that it was due to the problems of staff getting in. No problem there. He then said that pupils generally lived close to the schools and that they could walk in. Again no problem there. Then he said "I'd much rather pupils walked in every day than have their mothers drive them in, in their 4 X 4 cars". Hang on. This is Brian Coleman. This is the man who has spent more public money on taxis than the rest of the GLA put together. This is Brian Coleman who used the Mayor Limo to pick him up from a standards hearing into a complaint against his behaviour. This is Brian Coleman who has the mantra of putting the motorist first in Barnet. This is Brian Coleman who ripped out all of the traffic calming measures designed to slow down cars on roads used by children walking to school. My daughter walks to school every day at Mill Hill County High School. All of her friends who walk from the direction of Poets Corner have to traverse roads with no safe crossings such as Lawrence Street. They have to walk up Uphill road, where Barnet Council removed road humps, even though all but three residents opposed this.

Every child should have a "safe corridor" to walk to school. A route where they do not have to chance their luck with dangerous traffic. Brian Coleman was road safety supremo in Barnet for many years. His policies were the exact opposite of a sensible policy required to get children "out of the 4X4's". Given that Barnet Council has completely neglected to grit sidewalks and sideroads, I'd say that the mums are quite justified in buying 4X4's as these are the only cars it is safe to drive your kids in when it snows.

Brian Coleman then said that anyone having problems caused by extreme weather in Barnet should email him directly via the Council website. Here's a link to his web page if you want to - http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/council/councillor.asp?intsectionid=9&councillorid=6030 - I just hope he's more polite if you email him than he was to me.

Brian Coleman gets more money from the public purse than any other GLA member or any other Barnet Councillor. Well over £100,000 at last count, for a few part time jobs.  I'd suggest that if you have any problems, he's your man.

A dyslexic Christmas with the remedials and the idiots from Harrow

On Thursday I went up to watch my son in the St Vincents Christmas carol concert. I guess you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be touched by such a show. As I watched my mind went back 40 odd years to when I was a pupil there. The school was completely rebuilt a few years ago and has fantastic facilities. The children are treated to the most spectacular view of London and I can still remember standing at the 240 bus stop with Dale Malone, trying to spot the Post Office Tower on the horizon. It was newly built then.

My school days were not really that easy a time. Being dyslexic in the 60's was, shall we say, challenging. In those heady days that many hark back to, we weren't called dyslexic, we were called "thick". I didn't start talking till I was 4, for a period I had remedial speech sessions. They didn't really work as I never said a single word.The family were shocked when aged 4 I exclaimed at the dinner table "I wanna piece of cake". My mother shrieked "He speaks". She told me a few years ago that she was stunned when she told Mrs O'Keefe, the lovely old Irish lady who used to clean the house about this and she replied "Oh, he's been talking to me for years". I read that Albert Einstien was also dyslexic and didn't speak till he was 5. His first words were also at the dinner table. He exclaimed "I don't like peas". When challenged as to why he'd not spoken before, he replied "Everything was alright until now".

At school, it was a struggle. I was in the remedial reading and writing classes. Teaching methods were slightly different then. I was called to the front of the class and told to write Train on the blackboard. I spelt out T-R-I-A-N. The teacher said "no, that's wrong" and spelled it out correctly. She then said "now write it under". I spelled out T-R-I-A-N. She slapped me around the face and called me a troublemaker (aged 5). They say corporal punishment doesn't work, but I can honestly say I never spelled train wrong again. One of the disadvantages of being in the remedial set was that you didn't get to take part in any of the Christmas plays or anything else where parents may attend. As I was the youngest of six children and my parents had probably sat through hundreds of such events, they were quite pleased.

Whilst my schooling was failing miserably, I was actually highly successful at modelling. My sister had been cast in a Tizer commercial in 1966 and when we went down, the "little brother" had not arrived so I was cast in the role. I starred in many commercials, the most high profile being Heinz beans, Cadburys chocolate, Galaxy Chocolate and Angel Delight. The Heinz Beans ad won the director a best Directed Advert award at the Cannes Festival. One of my classmates teased me for not being cast in the school play. He was Joseph. I told my mum and she said "never mind, 20 million people watched your commercial on ITV last night". The next day he teased me gain. I said "Your only in the school play, I was watched by 20 million people on ITV last night". He told teacher and I got the slipper for being "arrogant". I was also told I needed to be taken down a peg and so I was banned from playing for the school team (I wanted to be the goalie). I didn't even know what arrogant was. I asked my sister what an "Harrow C*nt" was. She said it was a very rude way of describing someone from Harrow. The next day I spoke to my teacher and said "Miss, you know you gave me the slipper yesterday, you do know I don't come from Harrow". She replied "No, but you are an idiot". For years I lived under the impression that Harrow was a ghetto populated by idiots and people who are not very nice.

One other special joy was that being a remedial, for a while, meant having your school dinner at the remedial table. This meant you got made to sit with a teacher at the table and kids from other age groups, rather than your mates. I remember one christmas, where the remedials were all forced to have more Brussell Sprouts, because we were served last. There were plenty left and the school hated waste. The teacher told us we had to eat them because they were "full of goodness and nourishment and we need it".

In 1969, the Yanks landed a man on the moon. I was fascinated. We all had to do a project on the moon landings. For the first time, there was something I was vaguely interested in. My sister was a teacher and she spent the day helping me, explaining how to put it together. I was really proud of it. I handed it in and the teachers were shocked. My teacher asked "Why don't you always do work like this?". I replied that normal work was boring. After that, they decided that I wasn't remedial, just awkward and lazy.

I showed my own children my old schoolbooks. They were shocked. They couldn't believe how appalling it was.  They said "is that how everyone did their work?" I then showed them some of my sisters work (She qualified as a barrister). They couldn't believe how bad their father was. By the time I got to 14, my brian had learned how to cope with it's dyslexia. I actually did OK, getting 9 O levels and  2 A Levels.

So why am I writing this. Yesterday, I listened to the Vanessa Feltz show and I listened to people talking the biggest load of cobblers about the subject of dyslexia. I believe, but I can't prove that my issues with dyslexia are due to issues at my birth (premature with Rhesus factor issues). I also believe that being the youngest of six children gave me a huge advantage over many other dyslexics. I believe that the fact that my parents never put any pressure on me whatsoever and always supported me made a huge difference. I've had a highly successful career in business and music. I know many other highly creative people who are dyslexic and had similar experiences. I will never win a spelling competition (unless you have to spell Trian), my grammar is terrible as I don't understand the rules of the English Language. This hasn't stopped me writing a very successful blog. I believe that part of the reason I got over my problems is because my siblings often helped me with my work. They  loved me so they had patience. When I hear of children being denied "extra help" and assistance, schools not allocating extra resources, I get angry. I think of being told to eat Brussels Sprouts because "we need the goodness". The job of schools is to educate children, the more issues they have, the more they need it. If I was an OFSTED inspector, I'd fail any school which didn't have a proper strategy to deal with dyslexia and could demonstrate how it was addressing the issues of individual students.


If you are a parent and you are worried about a child with dyslexia, fight for their rights. Don't be fobbed off. With the right breaks and the right help in life, they could do great things. I doubt that I'd run a studio which has helped launch the careers of several International superstars, if I wasn't dyslexic. I doubt that I'd have the love of writing I have developed, relatively late in life. I doubt I'd see the world through these eyes. I think that my dyslexia is in many ways a gift. It gives me an edge. I'd rather not have had some of the grief it has brought me over the years, but I think that if I wasn't so angry, I'd never had done anything.

By the way, if you were wondering why I chose the picture, which has nothing to do with the story? Well actually it does. I googled "idiots from Harrow" and that was the picture that popped up

The worst job in the whole universe !

One of the organisations I despise most is News International. I don't like their papers, I don't like their politics or ethics and I hate the fact I have to give Sky TV nearly £50 a month to watch football. In light of this it gives me great satisfaction to think that the person with the worst job in the world is on their payroll !

Who do I mean? I mean the bloke who's job it is to listen in to the phonecalls of all the celebrities that they were bugging. Just consider some of the victims.

Alan Shearer, Vanessa Feltz, John Prescott, Alex Ferguson to name but a few. Can you imagine how mindnumbingly boring some of these conversations could be, especially with the accents of some of the victims. Have you ever sat next to someone on the train, who is chatting on the phone? Can you imagine having to suffer that for 7 hours a day. Especially if you are expected to come up with juicy scoops. Just imagine the scenario

In the NI Office :
Editor : "Ted, pick up Line 1. We've got Alex Ferguson calling John Prescott, bound to be a story there"
---
Fergie "Aye, Prezza, scoon dein hurgle"
JP: "Oh Hi Alex, I was just putting some peas on to boil"
AF: "Theet Blar scunner, hays a dungle furgle, Scurdle, Yurdle durdle"
JP: "Oh that was at quarter past three"
AF: "Ach aye. Deedle gurdle yet orgle borgle"

20 Minutes later

JP: "Oh Alex that's hilarious"
AF: "Aye, Aye, scurdle durdle and burdle"
JP: "oh yes, Oh yes, Oh Yes"
AF: "aye, aye, scurdle burdle and durdle durdle"
JP: "Oh dear Alex, I've let the peas boil dry, Pauline will be furious, must go"
AF: "Aye, Aye, scurdle durdle"
---
Editor : "Ted, I see the Fergie call has dropped. Any exciting scoops"
Ted (lying through his teeth): "Erm, oh, yes, Fergie told him that he's signing Alan Shearer for £18 Million".
Editor: "Great, we'll make some enquiries"
---

30 Minutes later.
Editor: "Quick Ted, pick up line 1, Shearer's Agent is calling him"
Ted (Rather worried) : "Oh Ok"

Agent: "Hi Alan. The News of the World have just called. They've been tipped off that Manchester United are going to bid £18 million for you !"
AS: "Oh dear. I've just planted some tomatoes in the allotment"
Agent: "But Alan, this is your chance to make a fortune"
AS: "I'm thinking of putting a shed there as well. Do you think Argos will give me a free shed if I say 'I like Argos sheds' next time I score a goal"
Agent: "Alan, Manchester United are GOING TO BID £18 MILLION FOR YOU"
AS: "Look I'd better go, I think we've got greenfly on the runner beans"

Editor : "Ted, what did they say"
Ted: (Lying through his teeth) - "Shearer said he wouldn't go for less than £35 Million and he wants £200,000 A WEEK."
Editor : Great.

20 Minutes later:

Editor : "John Prescott is calling back Fergie. Ted, quick pick up the line"

JP: "Alex, Alex, I've just had Tony on the line. He's livid. He's heard you are going to pay £35 million for Shearer and give him £200,000 a WEEK. Alex he's a Newcastle fan. He watched Jackie Milburn on the terraces for years. He's blowing his top. Apparently MI6 have just intercepted a call from his agent."
AF: "Theet grady scunner sharher wents £200,ooo a wek. The grady battard, the greedy greedy battard. Well yae cun teel ya meet Townee thet, sharher can feek raight arf. Aye wunnae pey the grady battard 50p a wek. Hees troouble, hes a skunner, skin landy gurtle snortle, maust gae"

Editor : "Ted, Ted, whats the news?"
Ted : "Deals off boss, United wouldn't meet his demands" (deep internal relief)

2 minutes later :

Editor: "Ted, Ted, quick pick up line 2 - Vanessa Feltz is calling her fiance"

VF - "Hello darling I'm feeling hot, really hot are you"
Fiance - "yes Darling"
VF - "I'm wearing stockings suspenders and I'm covered in Chocolate..."

At this point Ted, takes off the headset, runs to the top of NI Towers and jumps.

Would you really want that job?

The most disturbing thing you will hear all week !

Picture - Johnson Beharry VC - National Hero

The country is sick of bare faced lying, cheating politicians. I think we all know this, but every Tory, Labour and Lib Dem politician in the land should click on the link below to the Vanessa Feltz show, forward the time to 2hrs 52 seconds and listen to what the clearly very honest, upset and intelligent lady of African descent has to say.

The Vanessa Feltz show

I have thought very long and very hard about posting this blog. Her message is so stark that it disturbed my nights sleep. There is a year until the next general election. Anyone tempted to call for an immediate election, should listen to this broadcast. I have come to the conclusion that parliament needs radical surgery to sort it out. They have 1 year to clean up the show. Here is my recovery plan. Believe me, if we don't do something radical, then we might end up with a Government that we can't sack at the election after next.

We've had about 50 or 60 MP's exposed by the Telegraph. Surely there must be a majority of decent MP's who want to sort the mess out. Here is my action plan.

1. Gordon Brown resigns tomorrow. Appoint Kate Hoey Prime minister & Frank Field as Deputy.

2. They should appoint David Cameron to head up a commission to reform expenses for once and all. A vote of MP's should be taken to give him sweeping and draconian powers to fire all MP's shown to have behaved in a dishonest or underhand manner. He will have this role for a 6 month period. MP's who have been dishonest will be given a stark choice. Resign & pay back the money or get the sack and be investigated by the police.

3. The Speaker should resign immediately. He must be replaced by someone with credibility on all sides.

4. All MP's expenses and accounts should be on line. Expenses should be just that. If they are genuine out of pocket expenses they can be claimed back. If they want a flat they can buy one, with their own money, like anyone else who has to work away from home. They would get travel, food, hotel bills & other related costs. They would send out accounts as part of their re election package.

This plan would give us all an opportunity to see whether David Cameron really can take tough decisions. Whether he can cut the mustard. He'd have six months to prove himself and six months to campaign. With Hoey & Field, we'd have someone trustworthy running the show and someone who knows what they are doing running the economy.

Finally a few words about the BNP and the African lady on the Vanessa Feltz show. She says that they are the only party who she can trust and the only party she knows where she stands with. I'm terribly sorry to disappoint her, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Their member on the GLA, Richard Barnbrook has shown that he's even more dishonest than the mainstream politicians. The Tory Troll has exposed how Mr Barnbrook has made false claims about murders in his borough. He faces a suspension of up to 6 months.

I would suggest that the lady in question watched Nick Griffin on the Daily Politics show. Mr Griffin clearly states that Coloured people are not British. He even says that Johnson Beharry, VC winner is not British, despite his bravery for Queen & Country. Who do I think can call themselves British? Well anyone like me, who was born here. My Dad was an immigrant, my mums Dad was an immigrant. Having said that, if you had to have the choice between me or Mr Beharry VC, I'd advise you to choose Mr Beharry, even though he's not born here. He has PROVEN his worth and the likes of Griffen have not earned the right to even question him. Where's your bravery medals Nick? You can see what a shifty, dodgy character Griffin is here, being interviewed by Andrew Neil.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/8044337.stm

Is Mr Griffin being honest about his views on the holocaust? I don't think so. His excuse "European Law prevents me from explaining why I changed my views". Since when has European Law forbade people from saying "I read a load of old tosh, got taken in by it, and in the face of overwhelming evidence, been forced to admit I'd got it all wrong".

There is a big debate at the moment on the Left. Do we ignore the BNP or do we confront them head on. I say that now especially, we must expose their lies. Pretending they don't exist just keeps ladies like the one on Vanessa's show in the dark as to what they are really like.