Feature

From the front line…

MONEY, MAZAL, MEDALS, MOSCOW and MORE…

BY JACQUELINE CURZON

They say, ‘it’s a dog-eat-dog world,’ and this is often most evident in the financial sector. Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy after bosses at Britain’s nationalised rail operators were handed a gargantuan pay rise, despite rail workers being forced to accept a two-year freeze on wages. Six executives on the board of DfT OLR Holdings, which runs the LNER and Northern Rail networks, jointly shared a remuneration of £720,000, whilst the firm received a subsidy of nearly £1.4 billion from the Exchequer to keep services running during the pandemic. The board's combined increase is comparable to that of the BBC Director-General, Tim Davie, who has received a handsome pay rise of £75,000 after one year in post. Davie's pay has jumped to £525,000, making his salary more than three times higher than the PM, who earns £160,000 including earnings above baseline salary. Nigel Mills, Conservative MP, went further, saying “salaries for top executives and stars are too high at the BBC,“ adding that the 'public view on pay could not be clearer.’ The BBC maintains however that they kept the salary for top roles below that of their competitors, who variously earn between £833,000 and £1.03 million.

In other financial news, Euan Blair (37), son of the former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, has amassed a paper fortune worth more than £160 million, after securing a record investment for his education technology start-up, Multiverse. Young Mr Blair, now estimated to be considerably wealthier than his father, has previously spoken out against pressure on school leavers to attend university, arguing the system leaves graduates ill-equipped for the world of work. This is true, aside from the massive debts students incur, and most of us don’t have a Blair father (or son) figure to bail us out, should our finances overwhelm us.

A table tennis bat bought for £3.50 at a car boot sale has been sold for £1,000, after it turned out to be an extremely rare Victorian silver-lined bat, dating back to 1900. A pair of ancient Egyptian sphinx statues used as garden ornaments, which had been repaired with modern cement, have been snapped up by an art gallery. The statues were previously thought to be replicas and were valued at £300 - £500, but in fact sold for £241,800 including commission. Also going under the hammer soon are diamond bracelets belonging to Marie Antoinette, which are estimated to reach £3m at auction. She sent the jewels to Austria before her execution in 1793, and they were given to her daughter, Marie Theresa, who famously wore them in her 1816 portrait.

In America, a nurse who discovered the bodies of a multimillionaire American couple, is suing their estate and seeking damages for emotional trauma. Lisa Ann Hayes, who cared for Alexandra Jacobs, wife of the prominent investor Erwin Jacobs, walked into their Minnesota mansion in April 2019, to find them dead as a result of a murder-suicide pact. Hayes' attorney, Brian Stofferahn, said, ‘she was now diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has been unable to work since the incident.’ She is reportedly seeking $12.5 million, however the Jacobs family lawyers intend to seek dismissal of the lawsuit, calling it a ‘grotesque betrayal’ by a once trusted caregiver who was treated like family. I remember my late father ע telling me that many years earlier, he and his youngest brother had found their eldest sibling dead in his home. It was during winter, the lights and the heating were on full, and no one had heard or seen him for weeks. I gather it was a rather gruesome discovery, but Dad didn't dwell on it. Instead he was just grateful his brother had been found and was buried with dignity. I myself sat alone with several relatives in hospital as they breathed their last, and also found a close friend dead in her bed. These were of course heartbreaking situations, but in a way I think they were comforted knowing (hopefully) that I was with them. At the end of one's life journey, I believe presence, kindness and gentleness are especially valued. Oddly enough, the idea of benefiting financially from any of those situations would not have even occurred to me. Ms Hayes may indeed have been traumatised, but it seems a huge amount to seek as a way of alleviating her discomfort.

Media articles reporting on the use of appropriate terminology for females and males, demonstrates an unremitting nightmare. British Airways have announced they will be dispensing with the familiar ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ greeting, although it’s unclear what they will replace the salutation with - ‘Rainbow People,’ maybe? It’s become impossible to be a man, but most especially a woman, in 21st century Britain. The Scottish government has climbed back upon their hillock and announced that cancer screening (smear test) is to be advertised for ‘anyone with a cervix’….. The word ‘woman’ has been effectively expunged from promotional vocabulary, as was evident when Labour MP Rosie Duffield was accused of transphobia for stating ‘only women have a cervix.’ According to a leading policy analysis group, almost 50% of Scottish women don’t know what a cervix is !! which is an utter condemnation of a failing education system. Sturgeon's avowal to reform gender laws will make it virtually impossible for anyone to self identify as a woman, unless ‘she’ was first a ‘he.’

Now to a remarkable lady. Masked attackers who tied up a 72-year-old lady and stole her jewellery and heirlooms, have been ordered to repay just £1 each. Eriks Valants (23) and Jed Martin (27) broke into the home of Susan Hunt in Hampshire in 2020, frogmarched her out of bed, and tied her to the banister before ransacking her home. They stole a Cartier ring, Omega watch, pearl necklace, diamonds and a WWII Military Cross, along with a letter signed by King George, belonging to her father-in-law. None of these were recovered. Mrs Hunt was able to bite through the tape around her hands and get to a phone to call the police, an incredibly resourceful and brave act by this lady. The villains were jailed for 10 years each at Winchester Crown Court. After sentencing, action was taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover funds from the pair, however the judge permitted them to pay only £1 as there was no money left of the £462,000 they have made from their crimes to date. In mitigation, Valants admitted he felt ‘significant remorse’ after the robbery, adding he was unemployed at the time. Surely if he was remorseful, he would have returned her property and apologised. I'm sure Mrs Hunt was suitably stung by the disgraceful recompense of £2 - what a joke!

On the topic of medals, we know of many Jewish athletes and runners taking part in marathons for charity, London being the biggest in the world. This year 40,000 runners were scheduled to take part - with an additional 40,000 joining virtually. At the finish line, those completing the course were awarded their medals, but the medals were handed out in sugar cane bags, done to minimise contact between runners and stewards, and to make it more covid secure. From a time perspective, the difference between fastest man and fastest women was only 13 minutes, and the respective winner and runner-up in both groups were all from Kenya and Ethiopia. James Cracknell, the Olympic rower took part, as did some media personalities. On that note, I’d like to personally congratulate Flora Frank (78), who has just run her 42nd marathon, along with many others supporting Norwood, Kisharon and Emunah, to mention but a few worthy causes.

On a related medal note, a RAF veteran who flew the last Lancaster back to Britain near the end of WWII, has been awarded his Bomber Command medal. Ken Symonds (97) lost an engine during the final raid of the European offensive above Berchtesgaden, and the damage sustained meant his plane was the last one to return to RAF Syerston after the sortie in April 1945. Veterans who served with Bomber Command were only entitled to a clasp in 2013, after being overlooked because of civilian casualties. Squadron Leader Symonds only noticed the medal when his neighbour took him to the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, for his birthday. The neighbour, who is also his carer, applied to the MOD on his behalf only to be told it would take months to process, so she then contacted the local MP who lobbied for him, and the clasp arrived days later. The widower said, “I’m very pleased to have it and only sorry that I missed out on it the first time round. It’s extremely important for me to get this.’ Congratulations to all these medal winners.

In New Jersey, a man of 31 fell 9 storeys from a high-rise building, and had the mazal to land on the roof of a stationary BMW, whereupon he stood up, amidst the car-nage and asked, ‘what happened?’ As you might expect the car was totally trashed, and it is not known if he stuck around long enough for the owner to return and seek 'damages.'

In my HGV article last week I mentioned that we not only entrust our drivers to deliver, but to be safe on the roads. I specifically mentioned the use of phones as a common distraction, often resulting in fatalities. One such example is that of lorry driver Lucian-Sorin Todor (52) from Romania, who killed a motorcyclist by carrying out a dangerous manoeuvre whilst talking on his hands-free phone. The jury at Winchester Crown Court found him guilty of causing the death of Jack Burgess (22) by dangerous driving, and he was sentenced to eight years in jail. Todor claimed originally he hadn’t hit Mr Burgess but then drove off, still on the phone. Mr Burgess died in hospital from brain injuries. This makes my point, exactly.

Lastly, a bit of beautiful ballet news. Congratulations to Rachel Armstrong (20), from Northumberland, who has graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, after an intensive three year training. She is only the fourth Brit to graduate from Bolshoi, who rarely accept outsiders. She arrived in Moscow unable to speak a word of Russian but is now fluent. браво! A mention also of Pollyanna Hope (16), from Hertfordshire, who hopes to become a professional ballerina, and shows great promise, using a custom-made prosthetic leg. She lost her right leg in a bus crash when she was only two. Regardless of whether it’s one small step or one giant leap, she shows the determination to get there. Lots of luck to both ballerinas.

Jacqueline Curzon

PHOTO: LARA MINSKY PHOTOGRAPHY

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