Steve on Heathrow

Steve spoke to the Ealing Gazette last week’s about the recent government announcement.  Here’s what he had to say:

There’s a powerful case to be made for a third runway that will end stacking over Ealing and see the end to proposals for mixed mode 7am-11pm over flights.

But there’s an even more powerful case to be made for domestic journeys to be made by train and for there to actually be some limits on the constant expansion of the airport.  I accept that the major pollutant in the area is traffic on the M4 and that there is some evidence that aircraft engines are becoming more fuel efficient, quieter and less prone to dump lethal quantities of chemicals into the air but I simply do not have faith in BAA to ever stop expansion while there is a blade of grass in west London.

Jobs are vitally important – but not at any cost – and while I appreciate the position that the Government must take in respect of the whole country, my views are very much those of a lifelong west London resident and they can’t count on my support in this matter any more that I trust the opposition to cancel the scheme, if they ever got into office.

Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood

Advent is the season of expectant waiting and those of us who had waited for the latest assault on the finest traditions of European theatre by the St. Mary’s Players should have known what to expect.

Despite their receiving the first ever collective ASBO for ruthless rib-tickling and funny-bone finding the merry miscreants were back without shame at the Church Hall for a production optimistically entitled “Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood”.

Members of the audience expecting to see a fine morality tale of fiscal stimulus injected into the banking sector by targeted taxation of the wealthy and redistribution to those in greatest need were unsatisfied. One young man who imagined that the Babes in the Wood was a “Nuts” photo shoot may also have regretted his attendance upon an autumn eve but the hordes who thronged to the Greenford Avenue in anticipation of brilliant sets, superb if slightly over the top acting, exquisite singing and Derek Stoddart’s legs deserved everything they got and were not disappointed.