Christopher John Myers

Thinks are hotting up in Croydon’s political community with the news that ‘Red’ Ken Livingstone’s former race advisor Lee Jasper is to stand for the Respect party in the Croydon North by-election.   And, a s if that wasn’t enough nose-bleeding news, we’ve got Croydon South’s MP, Richard Ottaway, who once claimed £2,000 expenses for gardening work on his second home, fixing a tractor tyre and hiring a chimney sweep, standing down at the next General Election. Apparently, he wants to spend more time with his family. The persistent rumour is that his departure will clear the way for Boris Johnson to take over what has always been the safest of safe seats for the Tories.   Clear the way, that is, for Boris to bid for leadership of the Conservatives. But it’s the Lee Jasper news that will really liven up the Croydon North by-election expected on 29 November. George Galloway, the Respect MP said, “If I could have composed the perfect candidate to fight this seat then it would be

Croydon Council is spending £3,000 a week (they claim) to clean up after ‘travellers’ … but now those 'travellers' want to make Croydon their permanent home. It’s hard to know what to make of this.   The travellers blame (presumably jet-propelled) fly-tippers for the mess left on the sites they vacate.   But the news that they want to make Croydon their permanent home, after years of fouling the place cannot be more depressing. The borough is already a bit of a dump… now it can onkly get worse. Read the report in the Croydon   Advertiser Croydon Today

Croydon Council workers, who will fine residents who don’t meet their exacting recycling regulations, have been caught dumping recycled waste. An investigation by the Croydon Guardian has revealed council workers at its main office, Taberner House, are routinely throwing out paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic containers and paper cups in the general waste bin.   This is then taken and dumped in so-called ‘landfill’ pits. They report, “On two separate visits to the bins this week we found bags destined for landfill containing significant amounts of waste that could have been recycled. “A source within the refuse collections services revealed that throwing away recyclable materials into landfill has been a longstanding problem at a number of council buildings. The council claim that their compulsory recycling regime, which will start next year, will save about £200,000 a year, still short of CEO Jon Rouse’s £248,000 annual pay packet. So now, I want to kno

In the aftermath of the sickening Jimmy Savile revelations; what to make of the BBC’s posturing in the wake of the News International phone hacking revelations? They focussed on ‘tabloid’ excesses and we had a multi-million pound judge-led’ inquiry.   MPs queued up, with the BBC and the Guardian newspaper, to slam News International and demand press regulation. But now the BBC has been exposed as a paedo’s playground, as institutionally sexist, perhaps criminally so.   No longer can they present themselves as holier than thou. Yes, some sections of the print media are guilty of phone hacking, with no moral or news justification, but they never closed ranks to protect a paedophile, as the BBC did over more than 40 years. Esther Rantzen - why I did nothing BBC a fetid swamp: Telegraph blog

The winning drivers of this year's MPG Marathon recorded a staggering 108.78mpg, in a Ford Fiesta Econetic 1.6 TDCi. Now that’s impressive - it shows how motor manufacturers have refined the internal combustion engone.   But it’s hardly 'real world’. Real world is being stuck in traffic at a standstill.   Real world is short journeys.   And even with all the super new ideas like quick warm-up technology on the latest Renault diesels, for example, you can’t buck the physics – cold cars use more fuel. Former rally drivers Andrew Marriott and Andy Dawson managed the 108.78 mpg in last week’s ALD Automotive/Shell FuelSave MPG Marathon over a 370-mile route that took in the hills of South Wales and the Cotswolds.  They were driving very carefully and skilfully. But, crucially, they never once stopped to put their car in the garage to cool down.  Or go shopping!! As a result, they managed to improve on the Fiesta's official EU Combined economy of 85.6mpg by 27 per

Well, well – Her Majesty’s Opposition is much less privileged than I thought - 23 per cent privately-educated, to be accurate. That compares with 55 per cent of Eton-schooled 'Dave' Cameron’s Cabinet. I thought I’d better check this out in the interests of fairness and as part of my mission to highlight the menace of privilege in high places. Privately-schooled members highlighted. * Credit to Wikipedia for the info. * Question mark over Owen Smith.  I'll keep you posted Portfolio Shadow Minister Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition Leader of the Labour Party The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP Deputy Leader of the Opposition Shadow Deputy Prime Minister Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Labour Party Chair Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer The Rt Hon Ed Balls MP Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs The Rt

All right, it’s only PR, but bingo website Jackpot Joy’s ‘research’ which shows that Norwich is the most miserable city in the UK is so clearly bo***cks it’s not true. Norwich is the capital of Norfolk - the funniest county!   When my brother went to buy a stapler in Norfolk , the owner sent him away with the words, “well, I do sell them but they’re not very good.   Try so and so’s down the road.”   They even mark patients records NFN, for ‘ Normal for Norwich ’. The ‘research ‘ puts Leeds tops of the cities for the number of time the average person laughs each day.   That’s ahead of their deadly enemy Sheffield , where they laugh just 6.7 times each day.   That CAN’T be right! Here’s the full ‘table, ‘cleverly titled the ‘FUNDEX of the most and least fun UK cities according to the average daily laughter quota   1. Leeds – laughing 8.7 times a day 2. Plymouth – laughing 8.6 times a day 3. Newcastle – laughing 8.5 times a day 4. Bristol – laughing 7.8 times

Farewell JB – When I started out in motorcycling journalism in 1975 John ‘JB’ Brown was already a veteran – MCN’s grand prix columnist.   Now he’s dead and it seems an era is over. John, who seemed to call everyone ‘ace’, covered the 1970's glory days of Barry Sheene’s world championships.   But his reporting career spanned 50 years. I last ran into him, with my mate Nutters (John Nutting), at the motorcycle show a couple of years ago.   JB was enjoying himself. (He was supposed to be running the press office!) These appreciations sum up JB better than I ever could: www.bikesportnews www.britishsuperbike.com www.classicmotorcycle.co.uk Photo credit - Classic Motorcycle.

I don’t often read the Daily Mail – it’s a bit too strong for me now – but the feature today by historian Dominic Sandbrook on our ‘identikit leaders’ perfectly explains why I’ve lost faith in party politics. Listening to David Miliband’s speech at the Labour Party conference he asks, “What would self-made men such as Ernest Bevin and Jim Callaghan, who hauled themselves up by their bootstraps from poverty, think of a leadership election that asked members to choose between two privileged, Oxford-educated brothers from North London ? “What would war heroes such as Major Clement Attlee and Major Denis Healey make of an election in which neither of the leading candidates had ever held a job outside the political arena? “And what, they might well ask, does it say about the sad state of British politics that our three major parties are led by smooth fortysomethings who might have been cast from exactly the same mould? Read on … www.dailymail.co.uk