National School

In March of 2005 I was co-ordinating observation of a minor South London councillor. The local opposition thought he was using Council Tax contributions to fund his gambling habit (I didn’t agree- he actually had the very best nose for a pukka screw I’ve ever seen, and could have done far better as a bookie, but it was money), but I got in one morning, and Pendleton said he wanted me off it because ‘something more in my line etc etc’ (he was always full of it) and he handed me a letter from a teacher in Whipps Cross.

I do remember feeling relieved, as I drove out of Bermondsey heading for the Blackwall Tunnel, that I was leaving what had become a two month tedium of town hall, mistress’s fl;at (but that wasn’t in the brief; he was Labour), and liscenced gambling agents (the mark never had the time to take me to the races) and doing something new.

If I’d only known.