It's a sad sad situation

I received two sad letters this week.

The first was from my local MP Laura Moffatt informing me she was standing down and not fighting the next General Election.

I admit I shed a tear.

We have been friends for the past ten years and in that time I have seen her in action on numerous occasions. Selfless, passionate, honest, loyal, trustworthy, hard-working, dynamic and warm-hearted are just a few adjectives that trip off my pen with ease.
Laura was a politician that always went that little bit further than most others. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays she would often arrive home after midnight and her weekends were more often than not a mixture of surgeries and charity work. Despite our Tory-biased local press often misrepresenting her most people knew that the local hospital where she nursed for two decades would not still be open if it were not for her efforts.
We were very confident Laura would retain her seat despite having the smallest majority of all MPs at the last election – now we shall never know!
I feel a little light has gone out in my world and I wonder if we shall ever see the likes of Laura Jean Moffatt again – she was, and remains of course, a true one-off.

The second letter I received (or rather an email) was from an old pal, Tim Selby, who has just had a very serious cycling accident and is now paralysed from the waist down.
The accident was not caused by a pothole or during difficult driving conditions but by a combination of a cross wind and an intimidatory passing lorry causing him to take evasive action onto the grass and back onto the road in front of a different lorry!
As a cyclist myself I feel a mixture of anger and sadness. I have had similar incidents myself and only by the grace of God am I alive to write this blog.
We are told to ‘THINK BIKE’ but in this country most motorists think only PEST and rarely do I complete a ride without some near miss or heart-stopping moment. The Government continually tell us to use our bikes but do parents really want their children to risk their lives on our roads with all the uneducated motorists about.
Even with the roads in the state of repair that they are in we are constantly tooted and screamed at if we are more than a foot from the Kerb! Don’t these people know that we are much happier near the kerb but it is not always possible to ride there because of badly-damaged roads, ill-fitting drain or protruding man-holes.
It is a very British problem at the moment as anyone who has ever ridden on the Continent will tell you. In many countries of Europe it is normal to ride two abreast never having to worry about traffic as motorists will pass when they are able and are happy to sit behind a group of cyclists until an opportune time to overtake. In England the mentality is very different – it is frustration and scorn – and we feel it – and yes we are intimidated – scared if you like.
I had a guy overtake me last week near my home and he actually cut me up so badly his offside wheels went up the kerb and I was forced to jump up onto the kerb to avoid his wheels! The guy pulled into the local shops 100 yards ahead and I followed him into the car park to enquire what it was all about. He got out of his van and started swearing away that it was a 20mph speed limit (I had just completed a training ride and was poodling down my street at a little above walking pace!). I told him I had a groin strain and that having to ride up the kerb was not aiding the healing process. More swear words followed to the effect that he couldn’t care less and I was left standing there with hands on hips flabbergasted. He walked away and then turned around and said “I suppose you are going to report me now” to which I assured him I had no intention of doing. My only thought was to try and understand the thought process but it became clear that there was no thought process, no motive, no reason, just a very bad tempered bloke who for that moment in time decided to scare me witless.

But you see that is all it takes.

Tim was a social rider and one of the most talented snooker players I have ever seen. At the moment all he can think of is his wife and four children and although he does have some hope for regaining partial feeling he will never walk unaided and yet no one feels responsible. It was just an accident! In his heart of hearts I wonder if the lorry driver that caused the initial wobble (didn’t stop and was never found) has any regrets.
It is no fun driving on our roads but I have had several friends from my local cycling club, Crawley Wheelers, killed and maimed in the ten years I have ridden with them.
I know the risks but at the moment I am feeling that if I survive white-van-man then the state of the roads will probably do for me!

I’ll pray for Tim’s recovery but I’ll also pray for the hearts of man to change

Stick to the Numbers game Carol....please

Let me set my stall out from the start – I am NOT a political animal although I do support my local MP (this I would do irrespective of what party she represents as I just happen to believe that she has done a magnificent job in my home town of Crawley).
Watching Question Time is about as far as I am prepared to go in keeping abreast of party politics and very often it is only the views of the audience rather than the panel that I ever truly respect (with some notable exceptions). This was never more apparent than in last week’s show where panellists included former Countdown presenter Carol Vorderman and journalist and self-styled flâneur Will Self.
I really do hate being negative, or cruel, or in fact saying anything at all when it is not positive BUT it is difficult not to comment on the BBC’s judgement in inviting another television presenter on to a political show when they are clearly way out of their depth. Having the overtly erudite Will Self seated on your right must be very intimidating but Carol was lulled into a sense of false security by having the affable and more subtly gifted Boris Johnson seated to her left (I am in fact a huge Boris fan as he tends to be that all too rare commodity HONEST). What followed in the course of the hour was so cringe-making it made Carol’s Strictly appearance only the second worst career move she has ever made. From the moment her glasses were donned one could feel this was going to be an intellectual car crash.
Carol is of Conservative persuasion. She is Blue through and through. She is also blind to the arguments of any other political party in the same way as some religious zealots are blinded by their own truths to the detriment of other perfectly rational truths. Unfortunately when someone says black and you scream back WHITE it does not instil great confidence in what that person has to offer as a viable solution to any problem.
Carol appeared to have spent the evening learning her diatribe against anyone or anything non-Tory. She was not going to be swayed by reasoned argument and clearly was unable to get involved in a serious verbal joust with the highly-skilled but, fortunate for her, benevolent Self (on this occasion – maybe he is a Countdown fan!) but what she didn’t realise was her haranguer style had reduced the Mayor of London to a seemingly embarrassed state of catatonia.
Of course Carol is a member of Mensa and has a high IQ, which probably gives me as much right as anyone to question the wisdom of this booking as I too am a member of Mensa, but contrary to public perception all this means is that we have the ability to solve meaningless puzzles (or as one of my dear friends puts it – the ability to place square pegs in round holes), it does not give us the ability to mix it in the political world with professionals.
My honest advice for Carol would be to gain far more experience (as Will Self has done) on more downmarket panel shows such as those presented by other professional television intellectuals like Stephen Fry and Ian Hyslop. I would love to change the world but if I were asked to appear on Question Time the answer would be a resounding NO – it is a tough gig with a very informed and partly invited audience most of whom have an interest in politics and almost all of which would have more heartfelt and sincere views than myself. When will the BBC learn to check out their invited celebrities for suitability and IMPARTIALITY!