Very sad to hear of the death of Maurice Stonefrost this morning. He was the father of a close friend and was probably my most influential acquaintance. He rose through the ranks of local authority finance from Bristol and West Sussex to command the GLC before it was annihilated by Thatcher. He was a trusted advisor to the Labour party and pension funds. He did great deals for these institutions when they were facing hard times. The archives will remember him for these achievements but I will remember him as someone who managed to rise to the top of the only game worth playing. He built a network of influence and fun that helped and benefited many that never knew his name.
The campaign against Ross and Brand last week inspired me to use this new age of interaction to complain about Jeremy Clarkson. His bad taste jokes about lorry drivers and hookers only served to show how little content there remains in the tired Top Gear franchise. It seemed that he was determined to cover-up for the banality of his adolescent behaviour by repeating a very adolescent gag. He has a lot of influence with the un-worldy by constantly recycling his reactionary views; it seems only fair that he should feel some of the pain he dishes out.
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