Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Coleman?

On 15th September, I wrote a blog praising Dad’s Army fan Brian Coleman, whose excellent piece in the Barnet Press extolled the virtues of old fashioned respect for community and civic institutions.

Brian’s latest column, entitled Thank God For The Boys Brigade, praises the role of the uniformed youth services and the values they espouse. Credit where credit is due, this is one of the best articles Brian has written for a long time.

In between these two great journalistic endeavours, however, is a somewhat bizarre Press Release in which Brian calls on Mayor BoJo to ensure that the 2012 Olympic medals are struck in the UK.

Given Brian’s well known antipathy towards the Olympics, many people will question whether he has undergone a damascene conversion, or if this is simply a damage limitation exercise following his previous unwarranted attack on the British athletes returning from Beijing.

Politicians are often accused of giving misleading answers to simple questions. In reply to Brian’s suggestion, the Mayor’s response was clear and unequivocal. “No.”

The reality is, of course, that even if we wanted British made medals, Gordon Brown has flogged off most of our gold reserves on the cheap so we probably don’t have enough of the precious metal left. Unless, perhaps, Brian is willing to melt down some of his ceremonial bling for the cause?