Christopher John Myers

“I don't know what else to say really” Jon Rouse, Croydon Council's chief executive for almost six years, has given his first ever in-depth local media interview. And now he's leaving. He’s had a torrid time with the media – he always refused to engage with them and at the end of his tenure threw reporters out from a local meeting. He recognised the importance of communications by recruiting a very effective head of comms in house … but then appeared to leave him swinging in the wind. He started his career with an ill-advised ‘man in a suit gets his hands dirty’ stint on the bins for the town hall magazine. Now, in his farewell interview, he’s quoted apparently unedited and verbatim.   I wonder if that was the deal Jon Rouse struck with the Croydon Advertiser. The interview tells us almost nothing about the role of the Chief Exec - an extraordinarily demanding one. It leaves Rouse stumbling for words when asked about his local government-leaving...

British MotoGP hopeful Cal Crutchlow has set the third fastest time in pre season testing in Malaysia. He was only bested by reigning world champ Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. Crutchlow, 27 told The Sun , “I’m sure if I had put in some new tyres at the start of the day I could have gone faster. ''I waited to use mine around lunch and I still went faster, even though the track temperature was much higher at that point. ''But I’m not really too concerned about the times though. I’m just concentrating on making the package we have got better for the first race in Qatar in April.”

Warwickshire Police, shortlisted for a Plain English award for their gobblydegook, have banned officers from using terms such as 'black day' and 'black mark', but not apparantly 'whitewash'. Here to amuse you, tho, is a reminder of some of their claptrap, highlighted by the wonderful Plain English Campaign. One of their documents says the department aims to “protect people from harm” with a range of “outcome focused” functions that “are professionally competent and understand the operational policing context of their services, ensuring that they are quality assured, effective and efficient.” In 1,200 words, the word crime is not mentioned once. Chrissie Maher, founder of the Plain English Campaign, said it was “absolute rubbish” but Warwickshire Police said it was not a public document, despite being published online. She said: “It’s absolute rubbish as far as I am concerned, and this is from someone who has read reports day in, day out, fo...

My grandad, a keen photographer, took this photo while on holiday in Loctudy, a fishing port and seaside resort in Brittany.  He captioned it, 'Thunder approaching'. The year was 1938.  How appropriate.

Ann Bevington Smith, second from left, with (from left to right) Sue Myers, Jenny Walker and Sue Quaintence.  Taken last year at Linda and Roland's wedding. Whoever said Anne doesn't photograph well was talking rubbish!

  Here's a thing - local authorities must call a referendum to put taxes up  by two per cent or more... so Croydon's 2013 increase is? Wait for it ... 1.85 per cent.   Coincidence?   Admittedly, there have been no increases for the last two years, but neighbourikng Lib Dem Sutton  plan a freeze.  And extra cash is available from cenrtral government The council claims the money will go towards 'new school places and tackling homelessness'. Not salaries then?

Oh no – this is too much! Councillor Steve O'Connell, Croydon’s London Assembly member, wants Gatwick airport re-named ‘Croydon International.’ With no sense of irony the Croydon Guardian reports him as saying Gatwick should be reborn with closer links to the "economic powerhouse" of south London. Welcome to Croydon International!   Only 20 miles away! Well, I have a better idea – why not re-name Gatwick Balham International?   After all it’s long been known as the ‘Gateway to the South’.

Here's a musical date for your diaries -  Saturday, 9 March!   'Brush up Your Shakespeare' - a top-notch operatic evening at St Barnabas Church, Purley. Performers are Opera Nova from Bromley with music from opera, operetta and musicals, all with a Shakespearean theme. Tickets just £13, including refreshments at the interval. For tickets phone 020 8777 0482 or 020 8660 1335   Hurry, hurry, hurry! St Barnabas is at 69Higher Drive, Purley (from the A22 Godstonr Road turn up Foxley Hill Road by the Shell garage, cross the roundabout and keep going.  We are half a mile on the left. Show starts at 7.30pm

I get a lot of these heartrending stories asking for help, but this one appealed because of its use of language... "no hope for me to be a living person again" "I selected you after I prayed and fast for one week over it "I am willing to donate the sum of $ 5.3 million dollars, to the less privileged. Donation From Your Sister In Christ Avenue J.blohorn-01 b.p 1412 Abidjan 01 Cote D'ivoire West Africa. My Dear you know that God answers prayers in many ways, now God has answered your prayers through me but if you believe. I am Mrs Mariam Tinka from morocco a widow to late Mr.Kone Tinka I am 53 years old, I am a new Christian convert, suffering for long time cancer of the breast, from all indication my condition is really deteriorating and it is quite obvious that I wouldn’t live more than four months, according to my doctor and in all indication regards to medical analysis, this is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage that no hope for me...

I am pretty sure I believe in our adversarial system of courtroom justice, but the story of the woman who killed herself after being branded a liar during the trial of her abuser has shaken that belief. Kate Blackwell QC , defending choirmaster Michael Brewer who had abused her years earlier, did what she was paid to do – cast doubt on Frances Andrade’s recollections.    And, according to Ms Andrade’s son, the ordeal ‘traumatised’ her. There’s no doubting the trial WAS an ordeal.   And equally, that our legal system depends on this kind of robust courtroom challenge. But what a terrible price was paid in this case. Ms Blackwell called Ms Andrade a ‘liar’ and a ‘fantasist’.   www.bbc.co.uk Strong stuff. Finally, Brewer was convicted of sexual assault. guardian.co.uk The guilty person was convicted in this case, which you might think is the most important point. True, but is that all that matters? Time, surely for us to consider a sys...

Allianz Global Assistance, one of Croydon’s largest employers, has a dim view of the town’s local talent … or should that be ‘a dim view of the town’s dim workforce’? Mike Webb, chairman of Allianz Global Assistance wants to recruit people with local knowledge but, as the Croydon Advertiser reports, one Croydon-based candidate pointed to South Wales when asked to place the town on a map! “It was,” the Advertiser noted, “the latest in a series of episodes which have led the insurance giant to look further afield for its new recruits.” Read more: thisiscroydontoday.co.uk @thisiscroydon on Twitter | thisiscroydontoday on Facebook

Came across a web scam today while looking for a phone number for Groupon, the coupon guys, so beware! Look at this screenshot below. Of course the 09 code gives it away.   And they do say,  ‘n.b. the information we provider can also be found without charge …’ ... as if that mitigates their con.  But this could easily catch out the unwary with a £1.53p per minute bill, plus a per second charge thereafter. This scam factory’s ‘justification’ really killed me: “Why use us? We believe that people have enough going on in their everyday lives to spend time looking for numbers that some companies make difficult to find.   We charge for our service to cover the cost of researching and managing the phone number database…” What a con! My recommendation to find numbers easily and avoid the 0845 or 0870 scam used by many businesses  is to log on, free, to ‘say no to 0870’, saynoto0870 .   Their database of non rip-off number...

  When Croydon Council's £180,000 (or £248,000, depending on who you believe) chief executive Jon Rouse resigned after only five years, I suggested that his vacant post might be abolished and shared with another local authority. Now, it seems Council Leader Mike Fisher has taken my advice!  It's a m odel that has worked elsewhere. The Croydon Advertiser reports that he may not be replaced when he departs on March 10. Reporter Ian Austen writes, “the role could be absorbed into a new cheaper management structure. He quotes Fisher, “I am not saying there will be a new chief executive and I am not saying there won't be. I am not ruling anything in or out. "We will look at the structure of the senior management team to see what the most appropriate way forward is in the future." Rouse has had a torrid time at Croydon, and a schizophrenic relationship with the media.   On his appointment he inexplicably ‘got down with the lads’ on a refuse...

Every so often you read of someone whose life has been so unimaginable, so extraordinary – so inspiring – it takes your breath away.   This was my experience, today, reading of the life of Hans Massaquoi – a black teenager in Germany during the war who failed in an adolescent bid to join the Hitler Youth, survived the carpet bombing of Hamburg, played saxophone for American servicemen, emigrated to the USA, served in the Korean war and edited two ground-breaking black American magazines. Massaquoi died on 19 January - his 87th birthday, He also published his autobiography - see cover photo above. Read on, please: telegraph.co.uk independent.co.uk wikipedia

Valentino Rossi – who takes my vote as the greatest motorcycling grand prix racer of all time – looks to have put the disaster of his Ducati years behind him. He finished fourth on the Sepang, Malaysia test on Monday, inside his 2012 qualifying time. He was 0.427 seconds slower than quickest man Dani Pedrosa on a 2'01.783 but was soon on the pace. “It was a big relief, because after two seasons like this you have a lot of question marks, a lot of doubt. Am I still a top rider? Am I still able to arrive at the limit with the bike?” “In the last two seasons the results were quite bad, but especially the difference to the top guys was huge. It was not half a second, it was 1.5-2 seconds. So for me it is a great relief today. “What I understand in my career is that the feeling after ten laps is very important... and I was straight in the top three this morning. “I am very positive that we can improve over the next few days but I’m happy with the start.” ...

I’ll miss Casey Stoner’s sublime racing, but not his dumb comments about MotoGP. Now he’s confirmed he’s joining the weird Aussie V8 Supercars series he says MotoGP fans didn’t respect him enough. He told the Daily Telegraph, “They want to see biff and barge and they don't realise our lives are on the line. We became puppets in that world and it had nothing to do with racing” "We got spat at [by fans], they tried to knock us off scooters going from the motor homes to the pits; we had a lack of respect from a lot of people around the sport and I didn't like the direction it was taking. "Unfortunately they didn't like my honesty in the paddock. "That was part of it, but more it was the direction of the sport." Stoner will race for the first time in the curtain-raiser to Adelaide's Clipsal 500 next month. What Stoner never got was that fans didn’t like his whingeing, moaning and complete lack of feeling.   He has no pers...