On the BBC Radio 4 program PM there has been a minor controversy involving Boris Johnson the London Mayor and the question of drinking and riding a bicycle.

On Lantau Island in Hong Kong private cars are banned and the usual method of conveyance on Lantau is by cycle, bus, taxi or golf buggy. A friend of a friend of mine allegedly has a conviction for being drunk in charge of one of the latter.

On Sunday we went to the Farmers Market at Winchester on the No 1 Bus Service from Southampton to Winchester courtesy of the free travel scheme offered to Pensioners. It is amazing how different the view sitting upstairs on a bus is to sitting in a car. When we arrived at the market there was no sign of a recession.

I had intended offering Maura lunch at a Winchester Restaurant. Instead we had a burger from the stand offering Water Buffalo Burgers and it was delicious. Subsequently we bought a special bread and some local cheese and enjoyed that at home.

There used to be a Farmers Market in Southampton but that seems to have disappeared. Pity.

I do like a good put down. For anyone who did not catch a recent letter in The Times I offer the following extract without comment.


"Sir, I was astounded to hear that Lord Myners is seeking God (report, Times Online, July 19). All the time I knew him at Marks & Spencer he seemed to think he was God.

Kevin Lomax
Former senior independent director of Marks & Spencer"

“I don’t care what the government does anymore. They can announce cuts, they can announce increases, they can set the whole thing to music and do a karaoke. I have completely lost faith, as has most of the country, in anything this government says. You can see it every week in PMQs when the Prime Minister stands up and says ‘black is white’.”

As a former member of the Labour Party (best part of forty years) and one whose instincts are still left of centre it gives me no satisfaction to endorse the comments above by the Leader of the Opposition. I am afraid that the Labour Party needs to clean out the stable occupied by the present MPs, reflect for a few years in opposition and come back with some sense of values other than self interest.