Peter Rhodes on one bill, two messiahs and the horrors of a flood-soaked Christmas
Cast your mind back. Remember when the phrase “politicians with convictions” meant a good thing?
Pity those poor souls who were flooded out by Storm Bert and whose homes will still be soggy, muddy and uninhabitable over yuletide. There are few things in life more unforgiving than contour lines on a map. As the Dickensian character Mr Micawber might have put it: “Live on the right side of the contour, result happiness; live on the wrong side, result misery.” I'd like to think the lucky, dry, warm folk of Tenbury Wells and suchlike flood spots will invite their sodden neighbours in for Xmas lunch and a warm-up. But who knows? The Xmas spirit does not always flow freely.
My old colleague and countryman, the late, great Phil Drabble, annoyed readers with a column declaring that he would be locking his doors and gates over Christmas and any unexpected callers could sling their hook. A lot of readers called him un-Christian but a few wrote to say they agreed entirely.
