A piece published on the website of Justice for Men & Boys (and the women who love them), the political party of which I’m the chairman, in May 2018:

A piece in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph.

The second sentence in the headline was inspired by the late, great, Ronnie Barker. He was born in my adopted home town for the past 20 years, the throbbing metropolis of Bedford. Likewise John Le Mesurier. Al Murray, “The Pub Landlord”, went to Bedford School, where he ended up as Head Boy.

Bedford. It’s my kinda town.

[Correction: The joke was related not by Ronnie Barker (though I suspect it was written by him), but by Ronnie Corbett, in The Two Ronnies (1971-87). Our thanks to the Evening Standard for Corbett’s ten best jokes published after his death. #4 is this:

A cement mixer collided with a prison van on the Kingston by-pass. Motorists are asked to be on the look-out for 16 hardened criminals.

We can but hope the BBC one day returns to making funny comedy shows and sitcoms, as long-suffering licence fee payers have a right to expect.]

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