Historic

June 2022. An historical month and year. The platinum anniversary of the queen’s reign that began dramatically with the sudden death death of her father, King George V1 in 1952.

I remember it well, and many royal events, going back to the solemn radio announcement of the death of King George V and  in the 86 years since, those that have shaped her.

I recall as a schoolboy standing in the crowds opposite Wandsworth county hall for what I think must have been a visit by the queen’s mother Queen Elizabeth soon after the abdication of uncrowned Edward VIII.

We waved the mini flags and ‘goody bags’, gifts, I presume, from Wandsworth council.

I have seen the queen many times, first when I was a reporter covering her visits to Wales. Always at the rear of the press motorcade, when she stopped for an engagement I had to race up and report it.

When we were in our flat in Caerphilly Rosemary set  up a camera in our window overlooking the main Street to get an exclusive picture for the South Wales Argus as the queen drove past.

She missed it. 

Later, when I was city and county public relations officer I was at royal lunches in the city hall .

I have even provided briefing notes for her visits.

And, a unique experience, I went down a coal mine with her in the Rhymney Valley, following her as she stopped to talk to colliers and pat pit ponies.

My last royal  experience was an evening at Buckingham palace seven years ago, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of which I am now the oldest member in Wales, and was introduced to her and the Duke of Edinburgh.

But that’s enough name dropping!

As almost the same age as Her Majesty, I had hoped I might get an invitation to the celebrations in London. I am still waiting.

 

 

I went down a coal mine in the Rhymney Valley with her.

Two of the most exciting royal events were the gardena

May 5

Sell out

Forty years after Mrs Thatcher offered council house tenants an offer they could not refuse the government is thinking of repeating the move..

Not believing their good fortune, by 1995 2.1 million had bought their home at a knock-down price - a 60 % reduction - and Britain has been struggling ever since to provide enough affordable homes.

Almost 70% of people in the UK own property, far fewer than most European countries. In Germany it is only 20%.

Useful if you are among those fortunate ones, with some properties, including London, worth more than £1 million. but increasingly difficult for the younger generation, coping with crippling costs and having to resort to renting.

And what  the did the he government do with that £28billion windfall? It disappeared in the treasury coffers and did not produce a  single new house. 

I am fortunate in owning an excellent Wales and the West Housing Association flat.

Founded in 1965 it now owns 12,000 properties, mostly for rent. It is one of the biggest providers of affordable homes houses and flats, building hundreds a year.

This could be in danger if the government goes ahead with its ill-advised plan that would exacerbate the dire housing situation, denying young people a chance of a home of their own.