Tommy Fritz
A month or two ago I opened this Blog with a calendar picture of my honorary German niece Maja, three year old daughter of my good friends Andreas and Konnie Kulke of Zittau. Now, in July my calendar picture is of her little brother and my honorary nephew, Tomas Friedrich, who is just coming up to his first birthday.
I was fascinated by the names that his Mum and Dad had chosen for him. They seem to me to be symbolic of Anglo-German friendship, not at the level of top politicians and bemedalled Generals but of ordinary folk. The diminutive form of Tomas is, of course, Tommy, which is what the Germans always called British soldiers during two world wars. The diminutive of Friedrich is Fritz, which is how we often referred to German soldiers during those wars.
This picture of a happy, smiling Tommy Fritz brought to my mind the strictly unofficial Christmas Truce between front-line soldiers of the opposing armies on the Western Front in 1914. This had been graphically illustrated in the stage production of the satirical Musical ‘Oh what a lovely war’ to which my son Andy and daughter-in-law Marilyn had taken me during my visit to Sheffield a few months ago.
Satire often exaggerates to make its point. On this occasion though the truce was, if anything, understated. History records that on some sections of the line, German and British troops fraternised not just for an hour or two on Christmas Eve but for several days, until a furious High Command realized that there was every risk of ordinary soldiers discovering that their opponents were not all bloodthirsty monsters, but for the most part, quite ordinary chaps like themselves.
If only Fritz and Tommy, joined by Ivan and Pierre, had been able to follow their own instincts during that first wartime ‘season of goodwill’, instead of being subject to the fears and ambitions of far-from-the-battlefield Kings, Emperors and Presidents, millions of lives would have been spared and World War I really could have been a ‘War to end all Wars’.
When I was at school in the 1930s, 4th August 1914 was the date on which ‘History’ ended and ‘Current Affairs’ began! History was my favourite subject and we studied in some detail ‘The Causes of World War I’. Admittedly it was a long time ago, but do you know I can’t now think of a single one of those ‘causes’ that was worth the loss of a single British, German, French or Russian life!
Mind you, the carve-up of Europe, the continuation of the allied blockade on Germany till well after the Armistice, and the crippling and humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles, provided a fertile field for the development of ‘The causes of World War II!’
Public Service Pensions
Public Service Pensions have come under increasing attention lately. Due to the obstinate determination of us oldies to live longer and longer lives, they are costing more and more money. These pensions are, it was claimed on a BBC news bulletin this (7th July) morning for the most part ‘unfunded’ so that their cost is having to come directly out of our taxes.
Well, part of my income does come from a very welcome public service pension. I am also a payer of income tax and, like everyone else in the UK, of VAT. It might be said then that I have a double interest in the matter.
It may be that Public Service Pensions are for the most part (more than 50 percent of them) unfunded. Mine isn’t though – nor are the pensions of the thousands of other retired local government employees who currently survive on them. From the age of 18, I paid 6 percent of my salary monthly into a compulsory superannuation scheme. My employer paid another agreed sum and the money was invested (one hopes wisely!) to ensure an adequate pension on retirement. I made these contributions for 35 years. I hope that no one will grudge me the fact that my army service from 1939 till 1946, during which I made no payments, counted towards my pension.
On retirement I was, and still am, paid a pension each month of forty-eightieths (one half) of my final salary. I would be the first to admit, though without any great feeling of shame, that because I have outlived most of my contemporaries, I have enjoyed my pension for rather longer than most, and have done very well out of the superannuation scheme. However my good fortune has been balanced by the fact that during my years as Tendring Council’s PRO, two of the Council’s Chief Officers, the Chief Executive and the Treasurer, died in office several years before they would have been due for retirement (contrary to popular belief, life at the Town Hall can be very stressful!)
Their salaries, and their superannuation contributions had been a great deal higher than mine. They paid a large sum into the fund and drew not a penny out of it. Several other of my colleagues died within two or three years of retirement and must therefore have delivered a net profit to the fund.
Has the money that I and my various employers have paid into the fund, been responsibly and profitably invested? My final and current Superannuation Authority is the Essex County Council. Remembering their Iceland Investments, their jetting top councillors and officials half-way round the world, their branch office in mainland China, their expensive tv advertising and their Bank of Essex (in which hardly anybody was interested), they are not a body to which I would voluntarily have entrusted a single penny of my money.
However, as both a pensioner and a taxpayer, I’ll just have to hope for the best.
Comment on the Crisis
I have been astonished at some of the more extraordinary inequities of the response to our country’s financial crisis. No doubt the redevelopment of Clacton’s Pier Avenue is a good idea, despite the fact that the dust has hardly settled on its last redevelopment. The proposed Crag Walk on Walton’s Naze Cliffs is a good idea too though it certainly isn’t, in the long run, going to Save the Naze!
It does seem strange that the funding for these two developments is said to be safe while, at the same time, scores of jobs are to be lost, vital municipal work is to be curtailed or abandoned, pensions threatened and the school building programme axed.
The last of these economies has particularly incensed my elder son Pete. I thought that blog readers might be interested in extracts from a letter that he has written to his Lib.Dem. MP, Lynn Feathestone.
After acknowledging the fact that Liberal Democrats in the coalition government had undoubtedly had a modifying effect on the Budget, he goes on to say:
I believe that there is a large and burning issue, which both Labour and the Coalition have failed to address. This is the identification of the architects of this crisis and ensuring that they pay in full for the damage done to the economy and to millions of hard working citizens.
However, it is beyond argument that school children are not in any way responsible. Many are now to have their education damaged by inadequate school buildings for the remainder of their education. This is surely a cut too far which moves the debate from an issue of pragmatism to one of morality. If axing the school rebuilding programme is to be the benchmark for all future decisions, then there surely can be no justification for almost any other capital project. Even though I am a supporter of Crossrail, High Speed 2 and the Manchester Metro, I cannot even begin to see the justification for continuing with any of these things, while neglecting the welfare of our children.
This is not an opinion born out of self-interest. I fully understand that Haringey is not affected by this decision. My children have anyway grown up and left school – and left the country – and I am not employed in any way in the construction industry. I am, in fact, a regular train user, but would willingly endure uncomfortable or slower journeys if it meant that money would be released for more important issues.
I realize too, that this is not your area of decision making, but I would have hoped that your sense of integrity would be such that this decision of your Government would force you to reconsider your position within it.
Peter Hall,
Managing Director,
HUB Solutions
I can only say that I am glad and proud that my sons like, I hope, their Dad, find it impossible to remain silent in the face of injustice, even where they are not personally affected.
Pete in the Scottish Highlands, while visiting HUB Solutions' Scottish branch in Glasgow
Don’t forget your ears!
I’m not really a great one for giving health-and-safety warnings to other people. I’m all too conscious of the fact that in the past I have ignored, or been unaware of, a great many of the perils to which we are constantly having our attention drawn today and, with just one exception, I seem to have got away with it. My ears, about which I can’t recall hearing any specific warnings, are that exception.
Some three years ago I realized that I was developing small sore patches at the top of my left ear, which would scab over but never actually heal. They weren’t painful but were beginning to leak and stain my pillowcase at night. It wasn’t a major problem, but I did mention it casually to my doctor when I next saw her.
She took an immediate interest, referring me to the ‘plastic surgeon’ who examined it carefully and told me that it was a form of cancer and that he would arrange for the affected part of my ear to be excised. And so he did. The operation took place in the Day Surgery Unit of Colchester General Hospital. It was performed almost painlessly under local anaesthetic; the lady surgeon chattering away happily as she performed her butchery. All was well until a month or so ago when I noticed the same problem affecting my right ear. I saw the plastic surgeon again last week (on 8th July) and I’m to have another similar op., this time at Chelmsford, during the course of the next week or two. ‘Your right ear will then match the other one!’ said the Consultant cheerfully!
It’s not life threatening (at 89, how much life have I got left to be threatened anyway?) but I’d prefer not to have it. So, take my tip; when you’re going out into the garden to do some digging, weeding or pruning in the sunshine, or are about to relax on a sunny beach, do remember to apply the sun-cream and don’t forget your ears!
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