Sunday, 21 November 2021

The Tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet - 21/11/2021

 How's your week been? Mine has been pretty spiffing! Last night I saw one of the best gigs I've seen in a very long time. The legendary Average White Band at The Royal Festival Hall, who definitely still have it and can get even the most sedate of venues audiences on their feet.

 

On Friday I saw Joe Stilgoe at Pizza Express at Soho and tonight it's my old mate Zoe Rahman at Frith Manner school. All of these are part of the rather amazing London Jazz Festival. That's enough of me, what have the Tweeters of the London Borough of Barnet been up to?

1. I have a rule that I don't use this feature for making political points and I don't feature tweets from outside of the Borough of Barnet, but I will break it today. I saw this tweet and I was genuinely thrilled to see that Burnt Oak Market was returning. I then noticed that it wasn't the Burnt Oak market we all know and love. It was being staged by Harrow on their side of Burnt Oak High Street and rather oddly, they don't appear to be working with Barnet Council, who run the other side of the road. Really? Why can't these two organisations get together and make a proper event and when will we see a return of the real Burnt Oak market, that was the centre of the Burnt Oak community for decades. I'd love to see Barnet Council using it to encourage young entrepreneurs to start small businesses. Many of our best loved retailers started out as market stalls. Rant over



2. I think this is a wonderful picture of the former BR station at Edgware in 1956. This is now the Broadwalk shopping centre. It was a real act of vandalism to remove the link between Edgware and Mill Hill East and not encorporate it into the Northern Line. If it was open today, there would be a station at the StoneX stadium, negateing the need for a fleet of diesel powered buses to get the fans to the stadium, it would provide a useful interchange with Thameslink at Mill Hill and make travel across the Borough of Barnet far more straightforward.


3. IS this the worst and most dangerous bit of driving we have recorded on our local twitter feeds?


4. Did you know that bombers were made in Cricklewood in 1942? You do now!


5. Whilst we are in that neck of the woods, A major campaign to move freight from road to rail was recently launched in Cricklewood


6. Always enjoy contributions from Reel Streets


7. I'm gutted I missed this, it looked wonderful!


8. MR Amies has us very worried there for a minute. Not in Barnet, but a favourite post match dinner venue for many Barnet FC fans. I've been going since 1982. The slow cooked lamb shank is to die for, you have to order it 24 hours before.


9. We love the Welsh Harpies, you get to meet some really fun guys if you join them! (groan)


10. Nice!


That's all folks

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Saturday, 20 November 2021

The Saturday List #328 - My top ten favourite Jazz artists

This list is a bit overdue and this is an ideal time to do it. The first post lockdown gig I went to see was Ray Gelato at Ronnie Scotts , which was amazing and I will be seeing Ray again soon. As it's the London Jazz festival and I'm going to see the Average White Band tonight at the Festival Hall tonight and Zoe Rahman at Frith Manor school as part of the festival, I thought it only right and proper that I do a Jazz Artists top 10. 

1.  Duke Ellington. My parents had very few albums in their collection. In truth, they weren't big music lovers. I paid no attention to their tastes at all. When Dad died, I inherited his collection. In amongst the Rugger Ditties, Stereo Effects and Lourdes hymns albums, there was a Duke Ellington album. I vaguely recall Dad telling me he'd seen Duke Ellington in New York, I assume when he was in transit to the UK from Australia to fly for bomber command. I bitterly regret not being more inquisitive. The album was a live album. I'd not heard it before, but as I was feeling nostalgic and wanted a connection with Dad, I gave it  a spin and it was absolutely brilliant. Sadly, a light fingered flatmate, who fancied himself as a jazzer nicked it in 1989. I've bought a few since. 

2. Louis Armstrong. He was probably the one artist I recall my Dad raving about. If he was on TV when we were small, he'd always watch. My father only liked positive, uplifting music and stated many times that "What a wonderful world" was his favourite song. He'd sing it in the bath. As my tastes mellowed from hardcore punk, reggae and ska, I realised what a genius Louis Armstrong was. I think All the time in the world is an absolute classic.

3. Ben Sidran. I first became aware of Ben Sidran as a sideman in the Steve Miller Band. A brilliant pianist. As with many artists, I'd saw an album in a rack in the second hand stall. Assuming it would be Milleresque West Coast rock, which I have a soft spot for, I bought it. I got it back and was a bit surprised to find it was existential jazz with  big dollop of humour. being quirky and funny, I rather liked it. I've seen Ben a few times, most recently at Ronnie Scotts. It is always a great night. Last time was during the reign of King Donald of Trump. Ben said that he was on a mission to remind the world that not everything in the USA was tasteless and he hoped he'd convince us. 

4. Dr John. My sister Caroline won a copy of Night Tripper for being a panellist on Jukebox Jury (where famously she voted Tiger Feet by Mud a miss). I'd never heard anything like it before. If I'm being honest, I hated it at first, as it wasn't Rock and Roll as I knew and loved it. In the early 1980's I was looking for musical inspiration and played Gris Gris. It was a revelation. Dr John was playing at Dingwalls. I suggested to my sister we check him out. As she loved Dr John, she was more than happy. A few mates tagged along. One said to me after, that he thought I was only going to be pretentious, but he'd had one of the best musical nights of his life. After that, I tried to see him every time he played in London. We even did a cover of Mama Roux with the False Dots for a while.

5. Ian Shaw. I've seen Ian everywhere from the Chandos Arms in Colindale to Ronnie Scotts. Like me, he has a love of Joni Mitchell and David Bowie. A wonderful Pianist and songwriter and a tireless worker for refugees, a marvellous human being.

6. Zoe Rahman. Zoe lives in Mill Hill and is a friend. She's also a damn fine pianist. She's playing at Frith Manor School tomorrow evening for the London Jazz Festival, I'd suggest you check it out. 



7.  Joe Stilgoe. We went to see Joe last night at Pizza Express. He's the son of TV Pianist Richard Stilgoe, who Joe reminded us was still alive. He's funny, a great improviser and had a wonderful band last night. He's always good value.

8. Stacey Kent. Over the years, we've had all manner of wonderful artists at the Mill Hill Music Festival, including John Dankworth, Acker Bilk, Gwyneth Herbert to name a few. Of all, my favourite was Stacey Kent. Not only is she a wonderful singer, but she's also lovely to work with. 

9. Scott Hamilton. In 2019, I lost a great friend, Brian Peerless. Brian organised the Jazz element of the Mill Hill Music festival and was also the manager of legendary sax player Scott Hamilton. On many occasions Brian got us complimentary tickets for Scott's shows. The last time I saw Scott was at the 2018 London Jazz festival, sharing a glass with Brian and a good chat with Scott. If you like Jazz Sax, then you really should check out Scott.

10. Stewart Curtis. Stewart is another great friend of mine. I saw him last week at the Mill Hill Jazz club. He works with all sorts of great musicians, a couple of weeks before, I'd seen him at Pizza Express with Zeeteah Massiah, I'd not even known he was playing, so it was a rare treat. His own band K-Groove is a mash up of Jazz, Latin rhythms and Klezmer. Well worth a trip out if you see him playing. 

If you are curious, here's a little playlist (including all of the artists mentioned). If you like what you hear, do check these artists out further. 



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Friday, 19 November 2021

The Friday joke 19th November 2021 - And it's rather cheesy

It's the and of the working week, it's Friday and as is traditional, we have a Friday Joke.

When I told my good lady what I wanted after pudding last night, she called me an alcoholic. All I said was I fancy Morbier, I obviously underestimated her knowledge of cheeses!


Have a great weekend. As we are on a foodie theme today, here's my weekend playlist. All of these songs mention food.


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Thursday, 18 November 2021

Great Britain in 2021 - A crapocracy with Benny Hill at the helm

 I had  a very odd dream last night. I had a dream that I was watching the news and our esteemed Prime Minister was opening a new crocodile enclosure at London Zoo. Unfortunately, he decided to step in and the next thing, a bevvy of crocodiles started to chase him. I suddenly realised that there was the Benny Hill music being played and I was actually watching Have I got news for you. Then I woke up. 

Before you ask, I had a sober evening, a rather good band rehearsal. But the odd dream got me thinking about Boris Johnson. I was reminded of this gif

Benny Hill Stand Back GIFfrom Benny Hill GIFs


As the old saying goes, it would almost be funny if it wasn't true. Barnet Council have rather helpfully installed the perfect metaphor for his administration in Mill Hill Park.

The last few weeks, we've really started to become aware of the crapocracy that we are living in. The whole business of the sleazy way MP's are conducting their business and the Prime Minister prioritising getting them off the hook rather than ending the sleaze was something that I don't think any of us were not left speechless by.

As to the state of the nation. Today is the day when we visit the cash and carry in Watford to collect drinks and snacks for our vending machines at the studio. We've been doing this for at least 25 years. We have a printed sheet, with all of the items we've sold for years. Every so often, we swap things around, last year we replaced nik nak's with Levy Roots Reggae Reggae crisps. My studio manager would nip up, fill up the car and come back. Britain under Boris Johnson isn't like that. Whereas the list was set in stone and we'd have management meetings to discuss changes to products stocked, now it is turn up at the cash and carry and see what you can get. We've been unable to get the Levi Roots crisps for a month. Last week, there was a shortage of the standard walkers crisps. We were told that there's a potato shortage. It seems that we are so short of crop pickers, thanks to Brexit, that they are being put on the higher value crops at the moment. I am not sure whether Spuds can be left in the ground a bit longer, but an Xmas dinner without roast potatoes may become a very worrying prospect if this gets worse. I believe many supermarkets have long term contracts with farms to supply spuds, so hopefully their stocks will remain unaffected, but if we've not got people to pick crops, they will not turn up on your dinner table. 

Today, we saw one of the most blatant pieces of spinning bad decisions in the history of government in the UK. The transport secretary announced that the Eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds is being scrapped. Mr Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, made a series of announcements to try and pretend that they've found a better way to deliver a modern transport system, fit for the UK, for less money. They will restart the electrification of the Midland Mainline Railway. This was a project that they 'paused' a few years ago, to save money. As they'd already started, a short spur from Bedford to Corby was already nearly done, so that was completed and some almost 20 years old, clapped out trains borrowed from Eastern region to provide an 'upgraded service'.  It seems that they will still build a spur of HS2 to East Midlands parkway, but the super duper new trains will run along the old Midland Railway to destinations further north. There is some talk of a new spur from Sheffield to Leeds, so that the trains can continue and cut a few minutes off the time allotted, but rather than freeing up space for freight and commuter traffic, they will simply be shoehorning more trains into a railway that is already congested. This is how we do things. We all know that sooner or later, they will have to build the Eastern leg of HS2 properly, but it will be more expensive and decades late. Billions of tons of freight that could have been put on rails, won't because of lack of capacity and millions of car journeys made, because the rail network isn't up to scratch. 

Why is this important? Well if we want to cut carbon emissions and to get people out of their cars then we need a decent railway service. The anti HS2 brigade, who claim that building it will generate huge carbon costs, ignore the fact that the cars, new roads and airplanes etc that it will replace produce far more. I totally get that campaigners have huge, real concerns about the environmental impact of HS2. What they have failed to do is present a workable vision of Great Britain's transport infrastructure without it, one that delivers our climate goals. It may well be that other routes would be better, other methods of traction (hydrogen cell?), may be greener or that the pandemic will mean there is no market for it, but if we wait and see, then that will mean years or even decades that we don't have will be wasted. I'd like to see all major rail trunk routes either electrified or running on clean energy such as hydrogen cell. It is totally ridiculous that the Chiltern mainline railway, that links London with Oxford and Birmingham runs on diesel in the year 2021, with no plans at all to electrify it. 

It wouldn't be so bad, but they've already spent billions on HS2, all that money on the Eastern leg is simply being flushed down the drain. 

Sadiq Khan  was on BBC Radio London earlier, saying that TFL's deal with the government expires in 23 days. After this, buses and tubes may have to be cut. This is insanity. London is the only major city in Europe that runs a transport system without public subsidy. The reason for this standoff is purely political, a Labour mayor and a Tory government. A partial TFL shutdown would be a nightmare for London and bad news for the UK. 

I could go on. It seems that every day, we get another example of how the mob in charge couldn't organise a booze up in a brewery. 



I love this country and it breaks my heart. 

In short, we are a crapocracy with a Benny Hill figure at the helm. 



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Tuesday, 16 November 2021

Comment - How about saying sorry? Barnet Council to start to #Kickoutcapita

 Success has many parents, failure is an orphan. Today Barnet Council have announced the start of the process to 'insource' services from Capita. The One Barnet project has been a stunning failure, provided awful service and has cost hundreds of millions more than anticipated. As someone who campaigned, made films, helped organise meetings, marches, etc, it gives me little pleasure to be proven right after the services have been decimated. But hey ho, here we are. 

The statement is on Barnet Council's website. Here it is in full

Five outsourced council services expected to return in-house following Capita contracts expiry

Published:

Five council services currently delivered by Capita for Barnet Council will return in-house once their contracts expire in 2023, if proposals for a change in service provision are approved by the council’s Policy and Resources Committee next month (December).

Barnet news

Barnet news

Recommendations for the future delivery of some services currently outsourced by Barnet Council to Capita are expected to be confirmed by the council’s Financial Performance and Contracts Committee, which will meet on 23 November. These proposals will then be decided by the Policy and Resources (P&R) Committee on 9 December.

Five services have been earmarked for return in-house to Barnet Council. The first would be the council’s back office Recruitment service, which would return in February 2022. Procurement, Regulatory Services, Regeneration, and Highways would then transfer during 2023, once their contracts expire.

The report to the Financial Performance and Contracts Committee also confirms that proposals for extending the contracts have been received from Capita and are currently being evaluated by council officers. These proposals cover four services which are still under review, where it is expected that there will be short contract extensions of one or two years. These are Accounts Payable/Integra, Payroll, Estates, and Cemetery and Crematoria.

Five more services – IT, Revenues and Benefits, Planning and Development Control, Building Control, and Land Charges – are being considered for longer extensions of two to three years.

A joint spokesperson for Barnet Council and Capita said: “Barnet Council and Capita have carried out a formal review of the services Capita delivers in the borough. This is standard practice for any long-term contract.

“Many of the services were contracted 10 years ago and have been reviewed to ensure that they continue to deliver the best possible service for people in Barnet. Innovation is at the heart of service improvements, and the review looked at how best to achieve this. The Financial Performance and Contracts Committee has previously agreed a direction of travel for each service, including the expectation that some services will return in-house, and that some others are likely to remain with Capita.

“Barnet Council is committed, with the support of its service partners, to delivering top-quality services that make the borough a better place to live, work and study for all.”  

According to a financial assessment conducted by the council, the return of the first five services will be affordable and, overall, will not result in additional costs to the council in running these services.

Capita’s extension proposals are now being evaluated by council officers and a further report will go to the Financial Performance and Contracts Committee in February 2022.

Like his Boss, Boris Johnson, Conservative Council Leader Dan Thomas is not one for an apology. He's 'hidden in the fridge' for the statement, leaving it to an anonymous spokesperson. Whilst success has many parents, abject failure is an orphan. I just hope that the people of Barnet see sense next May. I daresay that the current administration are hoping everyones forgotten by then.  


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Monday, 15 November 2021

We will never be rid of the curse of covid whilst we have anti vax nutters on the rampage

 Today I attended a funeral. It was the first funeral of an elderly person I've been to for a very long time where there has been no mention of covid on the death certificate. Sadly none of the their friends felt able to attend. The very elderly still have a degree of vulnerability to covid, whilst the vaccine reduces the chances of death or hospitalisation, many people who are vulnerable are choosing simply not to meet people unless they absolutely have to. Back in October, I detailed how the UK is following what is a very different strategy to the rest of Europe in regards to covid. I was lucky enough to have an off the record private briefing from someone who knows. In short, the UK government has taken the decision to allow covid to rip through the population, as we have a reasonable degree of immunity right now. Their view is that this is the best way to finally put the virus to bed. Boris Johnson believes that the best thing is for as many people to get infected as possible whilst immunity levels are high. Whether this will work remains to be be seen. Thus far we've not hit the heights of previous waves and we are not seeing the same number of deaths, although more than a thousand people have died in the last week.

The one fly in the oinkment is that there are still a significant number of people who refuse to get vaccinated. As we live in a relatively free country, there is no talk of compelling them to get vaccinated. My view is that the government should treat us like grown ups and sadly if people want to do stupid and irrational things, then that is their choice (I believe that not taking advantage of a jab that will massively reduce the risk to you and others from a dangerous virus, which has been proven to be safe with billions of doses administered, then you are stupid. You are more than welcome to think it is me that is the idiot if that is the way you swing). 

I do however think that such people will be to blame for prolonging the pandemic and I think it is a real shame that in some cases, they will bear the tragic cost. I've seen all manner of stupid posts. Some claiming that footballers didn't have heart problems before vaccination was invented. Sadly I remember ex Manchester City player Marc Vivien Foe 's tragic death as well as the extraordinary lucky escape of Fabrice Muamba. Of course, they will find another straw man argument to move the ground when challenged. I'm not really a fan of the concept of vaccine passports, I do think testing is a more sensible approach. It is a scandal that billions were wasted on track and trace and the bloody thing has never worked. I wonder when the fraud squad will take a peek. As someone who worked in IT as a consultant for many years (I was involved in testing the first contactless Chip and Pin Card system in the UK), I knew that the astronomically expensive app wouldn't work properly and I'd love to see the people who persuaded the government it would brought to book. There is an old joke "What's the difference between a used car salesman and an IT salesman?" - "The used car salesman knows when he's telling porkies". The truth is that if you sell a health product and you have no idea if it will work, you should disclose that. You'd need standard systems across every phone and far more accurate calibration than we have to even start to think about it. That would take 2-3 years to roll out. The software in our current phones simply wasn't designed to work in this way and everyone who understood NFC (the technology that is used) knew. 

The sad truth is that we are lumbered with Covid for the foreseeable future. As far as I am concerned, it is the anti vax nutters who are putting us in this position. It's pointless arguing with them and I don't believe in authoritarian government, so I guess that in the long run, it will just have to be left to Darwinian evolution. All I can really say is that the government really should make better education of biology, Maths and Statistics mandatory. I have A levels in both if you are interested. I don't think that makes me cleverer, but when people who do know what they are talking about speak, I have some idea what they are on about.

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Sunday, 14 November 2021

The Tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet - 14th November 2021

 It's remembrance Sunday. Today we remember.  I was at Hadley FC yesterday for their game against Harefield Utd. A damn fine game of football, poignantly marked by a lone piper playing the last post before kick off, followed by an impeccably observed minutes silence. I was proud of everyone



That was my moment of the week. What was yours? Here's my selection from our esteemed local tweeters


1. This is a nice tweet, a most appropriate way to start

2. And this

3. This is important. Please participate

4. This is a wonderful picture

5. This was a very good goal to seal a very good performance (love the celebratory camera wobble)

6. I think this tweet makes Burnt Oak Library look fantastic

7. Does anyone remember this. I'm intrigued?

8. A quick shout out for our local scout groups (and guidesl) who do brilliant work. I love this

9. Sad news in Mill Hill. Coban's father has passed away, so he's away for a couple of weeks. Our thoughts and prayers are with him

10. The Mill Hill Jazz club is back


That's all folks. 

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Saturday, 13 November 2021

The Saturday list #327 - My top ten favourite fictional characters

 I've got to admit that I'm surprised that I've not done this one before. I'm sure we've all got our favourite fictional characters. I started to make this list and I realised that there is a little theme going on here. 

1. Commander Ed Straker. He was the boss of SHADO, the shady organisation protecting the world from UFO's in the Gerry Anderson series. I think the series stands up pretty well for something made in the early 1970's for TV. Straker was a complicated character, but he was always decent and honest, whilst being conflicted by the fact that his job was basically to pull the wool over the eyes of the general populace.

2. Jack Regan. I loved the Sweeney and I loved Jack Regan. He was a hard case, hard drinking, a deeply flawed character who often got it wrong. The Sweeney was probably the first cop show where sometimes the villains were nasty and got away with it. Regan was a tad amoral at times, but I always felt I'd like a boss like him. 

3. Marshal Will Kane. The Marshal in High Noon. The film is my all time favourite. I love Gary Cooper's portrayal. He's a bloke who has balls and is prepared to do the right thing, when everyone else runs scared. A true role model.

4. Mr Spock. If I'd been asked this when I was sixteen, I'd have gone for Captain Kirk, but I realised that Spock was a far better example of humanity, even though he was only half human. I genuinely believe that if the USS Enterprise was a reality, Spock would have been a far better captain and Kirk's recklessness would have ended up destroying it. Spock was highly rational, whereas Kirk was emotional and impulsive. Whilst it made good telly, in the real world, it would have ended up killing his crew.

5. Norman Stanley Fletcher. Porridge was a brilliant series, IMHO the best sitcom ever produced. The wisdom of Fletcher was a joy to behold. I'm not really sure if Porridge accurately portrays the life in one of HM Prisons, but if it did and you ended up in one, you'd want Fletcher to be your cellmate.

6. Ivanhoe Martin. Ivanhoe is the lead character in the Jamaican masterpiece "The harder they come". A tragic figure in a brilliant film.  Well worth a view if you have a minute. He is a man trying to make it against all the odds, who both succeeds and fails, meeting a tragic end. 

7. James Bond. Now this is a bit complicated, as they've had a few. My favourite was Roger Moore. He seemed to me to be the only one who enjoyed his job. Whereas Connery et all seemed to be cold, ruthless psychopaths, Roger Moore seemed to be a bloke who could have a bit of a laugh whilst doing his job. Whereas Connery et all never really seemed to enjoy the company of the beautiful women they seduced, Moore looked as if he was having a blast. If her majesty is going to give you a licence to kill, surely you should enjoy the job a bit. Generally when Roger Moore was Bond, he'd end up in a lifeboat with a beautiful woman having a damn good time. The rest of them always ended up looking miserable. 

8. Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk. Marylin Monroe played the Ukulele playing singer in Some Like it Hot. It is a wonderful film with many amazing performances. As a musician and band leader, all I can really say is that I'd love Sugar to be the singer in my band!

9. Jeff Tracy. The man who built the Thunderbirds. I thought long and hard as to which of the cast was my favourite. I'd probably have picked one of the boys when I was a kid, but in truth Jeff was clearly the most admirable. Whilst our real life billionaires have space programs to facilitate the rich to go into space, Jeff used his billions to save people's lives and make the world a better place. I do wonder whether Bezos et all have ever considered setting up their own "International rescue" with planes and equipment to avert disasters with their small change. 

10. Will Munny. Clint Eastwoods portrayal of ruthless killer, turned failed hog farmer, who is hired to avenge a murdered prostitute is a masterpiece. Munny is a man who you'd simultaneously not want to meet but also have beside you in the trenches is brilliant.  There are many wonderful characters portrayed by Eastwood, but Munny is by far the most interesting. 

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Friday, 12 November 2021

A message to you Moggy

 I am endeared to my good mate Mike Landers for the hat tip here.

From today's reading (The book of Wisdom). Fellow RC Rees-Mogg should read and Mrs BJ might want to give her hubby a warning!

 "If, as administrators of his kingdom, you have not governed justly nor observed the law, nor behaved as God would have you behave, he will fall on you swiftly and terribly.

Ruthless judgement is reserved for the high and mighty"

A message to you Moggy

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Thursday, 11 November 2021

On remembrance day, a quick reminder why fascism is a losers ideology

 Today is one of the days that I think about my Dad quite a lot. He was a WWII bomber pilot, flew 40 missions, was shot down over Bucharest in Rumania, held prisoner of war, escaped, returned to the UK, lived a full and successful life and passed away aged 69 in 1987. 

My father was an avowed anti fascist. As kids, we were not allowed to go on holiday to Spain as he detested the fascist regime of General Franco. I was only 24 when he passed away, but we had several very deep conversations about fascism, racism and human decency. He was a committed Roman Catholic and deeply believed that fascism and Nazi ideologies were deeply anti Christian. He held that anyone who subscribed to these beliefs was a complete hypocrite. He would quote the parable of the Good Samaritan. Samaritans were despised by the audience Jesus was addressing, as outsiders and infidels. He said the whole point was that no one should be judged by colour or creed.

A couple of months after he died, I was in the Three Hammers pub, when I was approached by an elderly Jewish chap, who I recognised as one of my fathers customers. I used to wash and valet cars and make tea for my father's business in the school holidays for pocket money. This guy was a regular. My father would always indulge in what can only be described as pretty grown up banter, which involved some pretty offensive stereotyping of both my father's Australian heritage and the chaps Jewish heritage, especially over the payment of bills. What was clear was that they both had huge respect for each other and were friends, but were happy to exchange insults. At the time I didn't understand their relationship at all. 

When this chap approached me, he looked very upset and said "I just wanted to pass on your condolences, your Father was the finest man I knew". He then said he wanted to buy me a pint. When we sat down, he started to explain why he held my father in such high esteem. He told me that if it wasn't for men like my father, men prepared to put their lives at risk, he'd have gone to a gas chamber, his wife would have gone to the gas chamber, his two lovely daughters would have gone to the gas chamber and his grandchildren would never have existed. He said that as my Dad had bombed the Axis war effort, he was eternally grateful. He then told me a story that my father had never mentioned.

It turned out that the guy was involved in the 60's and 70's in a Jewish group that ruggedly opposed fascists. He was a bit of a hardnut when he was younger. I am not sure if he was involved in the '62 group as shown in the recent Ridley Road drama, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. He told me that he needed transport for some of the guys involved to get to an 'engagement' with some fascists. They knew that the Police were keeping an eye on them, so they didn't want to use their own cars. He nipped down to see my Dad and asked if he could borrow his work  van to move some furniture. My Dad was a generous soul and said "Sure, just top it up with some petrol". My Dad thought no more of this, until a couple of days later. A police officer turned up and demanded to know his whereabouts on the previous Saturday My Dad was quite perplexed. He told them that he'd been at The Sacred Heart Church Xmas bazaar running the raffle. The officer said "Can anyone verify this?". My Dad said "About 200 people, I do it every year". The officer then asked "Can you explain why your van was used in a crime in the East End of London at the time?". My Dad enquired. Apparently a National Front 'get together' was disrupted by some 'Zionist thugs' and the perpetrators were seen leaving in his van. My Dad was shocked. He could offer no explanation, although occasionally his employees borrowed it if they were moving furniture. My Dad assured the officer that none of his workmen were Jewish, so it seemed highly unlikely. He asked if the Police had considered whether the van had dodgy number plates. 

With this the police departed. A couple of days later, my Dad bumped into his mate. My Dad explained that the police had visited him. My Dad asked why he'd not told him the real purpose. The chap explained that it was better that my Dad didn't know and he was sorry that he'd had trouble. My Dad replied that it was a shame that he'd not told him, as he'd loved to have bought the guys a pint. He said "You can borrow it any time you like". 

My Father said he'd seen the carnage first hand that Fascism and Nazism had caused. In 1944 he'd been stationed in Foggia in Italy, he'd bombed sites in Germany, Yugoslavia, Rumania and Italy. He'd seen half his squadron lose their lives. As a POW he'd buried his best friend, F/O Andrew Murphy, who was the tail gunner on his Wellington bomber. He'd attended his funeral as a guest of the Rumanian airforce, also paying respects to their fallen colleagues. He'd seen the devastation of Bucharest, which he'd bombed and the Germans bombed when Rumanian changed sides and supported the Allies. 

My Father in Italy in 1944

All of this happened because people allowed a corrosive ideology to take hold. These ideologies destroyed the nations that adopted them. Germany was divided for nearly 50 years, Italy was invaded and many ancient sites destroyed. Families were torn apart. Even in countries such as Spain, that did not participate in WWII, the countries were ripped apart by civil wars and then stagnated under corrupt and repressive regimes. The ideology of Fascism is one that is clearly one that attracts those who have lost out in society. Rather than trying to pull the marginalised up, it seeks to put the boot into those who are easy targets. In the 1930's this was the Jewish population of Germany. In the 1960's and 70's British Fascists started to attack Asians, Blacks and the Jewish population. Now it is generic Asylum Seekers, Eastern Europeans, gypsies and the EU. There is clearly problems in the UK, where we have not built enough social housing, whilst bulldozing any available plot of land for luxury flats. The fascist ideologues do not put the blame where it is due, with the ineffective politicians who have failed to properly plan for any of their decisions. They blame the poor, marginalised people who have nowhere else to live, for having the audacity to simply want to live in peace. 

Germany killed six million Jews as a result of their atrocious racist policies. What did this achieve? The vast majority of those murdered were not the 'wealthy bankers and financiers' the Nazi's railed against. It was the poor people who didn't have the money to escape. They were simply scapegoats for a policy of hate, where it is never the fault of those in power. Even by their own standards, they were a failure. When it comes down to it, it's always the poor and marginalised who bear the brunt of repression. Their policies resulted in a huge instance of 'anti Darwinian' evolution. The strongest and most able soldiers were mown down in Eastern Europe's killing fields. Their best pilots were wiped out by Allied Air superiority. The wealthy and well to do City dwellers were incinerated in Dresden and other cities carpet bombed by the Allies, long after it was clear to all that Germany had lost the war. 

The German generals and the Nazi Hierarchy were too cowardly and too incompetent to tell Hitler that the war was lost and that they had to sue for peace in September 1944. They let him launch the disastrous Battle of the Bulge, which lost what scant resources they had left and meant that they had no means to slow down the Russian advance on Berlin. I've heard Nazi apologists claim that they had better technology. This is nonsense, the Allies were light years ahead in any technology that mattered, such as Radar, manufacturing and atomic weapons. Whilst the Nazi's were wasting huge resources on V1 and V2 weapons, which had no strategic value, the allies built heavy bombers, transport planes, trucks, boats and bombs in vast numbers. In short, the Axis had a bunch of incompetents, obsessed with vanity projects fig

My parents at the VE day celebrations 

hting against a huge machine that was dedicated to producing what was needed to win.

The Germans finest general Erwin Rommel realised the game was up and paid the price for speaking the truth with his life. Hitler was a loser on a scale never seen before or since. And for what? So that he could have murdered my Dad's mate, his wife and his kid? People who lived a quiet life, contributing to the community in Mill Hill and Edgware. I'm proud of the efforts my Dad made in the RAF to oppose this. I'm just as proud that he lent his van to his mate, so a few idiots who wanted to start the whole corrosive Nazi project again got a good duffing up. My only regret was that at the time I wasn't a blogger, so I didn't record the whole story properly.   

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