Christopher John Myers

It’s Mark Twain’s 176th birthday today (30 November) and Google has marked the occasion with one of their ‘doodles’ on their home page.   It shows Twain’s most famous character - Tom Sawyer - tempting a friend into whitewashing over the Google logo on a picket fence.   It’s a reference to a scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer where he is ordered to paint the fence by his aunt Polly as a punishment. I’m a big Twain fan, and Tom Sawyer is a great and comic novel.   But there was a fascinating and dark side to this, the greatest American author and personality – his Connecticut Yankee at the Court of King Arthur for example, is a bleak look at how modern technology has mechanised warfare and killing.   His little-read ‘The Damned Human Race’ suggests that evolution is actually running in reverse, such is man’s inhumanity.   We may yet reach the end of the road, he suggests, with the Frenchman! (By the way, Darwin was a fan of his books.) But, let’s remember h...

Mystery and intrigue surrounds the sudden clearance of a patch of Kenley woodland and the erection of a 'Private Property, Strictly No Admittance' sign. The land, to the West of Hayes Lane, behind Frobisher Close and Driftwood Drive, has now been enclosed by a makeshift brushwood barrier.  The area borders the public footpath from Hayes Lane to Old Lodge Lane. Veteran rambler John Monnery, who has walked across the land for more than 50 years, found his way barred a few weeks ago by a group of Irish workmen clearing the ground who warned him in no uncertain   terms – ‘this is private land’. He immediately feared that a travellers’ invasion was planned, especially in the wake of the Dale Farm closure and the colonisation of the Lion Green Car Park in Coulsdon. Now that the warning sign is up – at a height that deters removal by ramblers - there’s growing suspicion that a developer is preparing a planning application for executive homes. But Croydon Council confirms this is...

I’m reading Mark Twain’s ‘Innocents Abroad’ and was struck how this extract from his visit to Greece in 1867 chimed with the today’s economic mess. Read on.. “ Greece is a bleak, unsmiling desert, without agriculture, manufactures or commerce, apparently. What supports its poverty-stricken people or its Government, is a mystery. “…. Under King Otho the revenues of the State were five millions of dollars--raised from a tax of one-tenth of all the agricultural products of the land (which tenth the farmer had to bring to the royal granaries on pack-mules any distance not exceeding six leagues) and from extravagant taxes on trade and commerce. "Out of that five millions the small tyrant tried to keep an army of ten thousand men, pay all the hundreds of useless Grand Equerries in Waiting, First Grooms of the Bedchamber, Lord High Chancellors of the Exploded Exchequer, and all the other absurdities which these puppy-kingdoms indulge in, in imitation of the great monarchies; and in...

More Sugar for Mr Morrison Popular Purley R&B band Time is Tight have gained a reputation for stomping versions of Booker T. & the M.G.'s classics … but now a campaign is gaining ground for them to look closer to home for their inspiration. ‘Why not look at British music?,’ fans are asking … and now a petition’s been launched imploring the three band members to check out late ‘Sixties and early ‘Seventies group, Free. Chris Myers, who lays claim to being the Time is Tight’s number one fan, has been bombarding band members with emails asking them specifically to look at a little-known Free instrumental number, ‘Sugar for Mr Morrison’, but without success. As a desperate measure to get them to listen up and pay attention, he’s gone viral and is posting this appeal on his blog and Facebook. So, if you’d like to see Time is tight go British – get in touch! And, if you aren’t familiar with Free and Sugar for Mr Morrison, complete your education – here!

My 'local' TESCO in Purley - apparantly the busiest in the country - refuses to enforce abuse of its disabled-only parking bays. I can't get a satisfactory answer from them about this failure when I complain (thousands do, apparantly) so I'm getting my MP involved.  Any ideas anyone?

Croydon Council’s latest restaurant hygiene ratings are out, see below.   ‘Heros’ are ‘5 Star’ rated for hygiene.   You can work out what ‘Zero’ means!   Thankfully My Old China (once a really nice place) has now shut. Shame about the Kabada in Coulsdon. HERO Abra Kebabra, Wickham Road, Croydon Burger King Croydon University Hospital , London Road, Croydon Clocktower Cafe Town Hall And Clock Cafe Katharine StreetCroydon Companions Takeaway 145 Milne Park East Croydon Cosmo, Hesterman Way, Croydon Croydon Football Club, Albert Road,Croydon Fingers Kebab, Central Parade, Croydon Food For U, Beulah Road, Croydon Ikea, Volta Way, Croydon ZERO  Anikas, Selsdon Parade, Addington, South Croydon Dosa Lounge, St James Road, Croydon Errols Cafe, Surrey Street, Croydon Kabada Brighton Road, Croydon Miss Ellies Cafe, Mitcham Road My Old China Restaurant, Godstone Road, Croydon Rubicorn Restaurant Takeaway, Station Road, West Croydon Sara’s Diner, Chu...

Yes, yes, I know journalists are pond life, but there’s a rank smell of hypocrisy about the Leveson inquiry into the News of the World phone hacking. As ex-Sun Editor Kelvin MacKenzie writes in the Daily Mail (yes, I know!) the inquiry is just about MPs getting their own back on the press for the breaking of the Parliamentary expenses fiddles. And, can you credit the decision to give Leveson more power to investigate ‘phone hacking than that available to the Iraq war inquiry?   Criminal actions by journalists, or anyone else, need dealing with.   Let the full power of the (existing) law be brought to bear against the perpetrators.   But all the millions of hours and pounds spent on this inquiry, plus the silt surrounding it just diverts attention from really big issues.   Like, to take just one example, the impending global recession. I don’t want my MP wasting his time on this nonsense.   And I don’t want my taxes paying for the ludicrous Culture Medi...

Say No to 70 million - petition We desperately need an open, honest, public debate about mass immigration which the Home Office predicts will boost the UK’s population to 70 million within 20 years - two-thirds of the increase will be due to immigration. Now there is an opportunity to force a public debate by signing an e-petition at No. 10 here, No to 70 million The petition reads, “Over the past ten years the government has permitted mass immigration despite very strong public opposition reflected in numerous opinion polls.   The petition recognises the benefits that properly controlled immigration could bring to our economy and society, this population increase - the equivalent of building seven cities the size of Birmingham - will have a huge impact both on our quality of life and on our public services, yet the public has never been consulted . So we call on the government to take all necessary steps to get immigration down to a level that will stabilise our population as clos...