Well once again this has been the end of another strange day full of media interviews. It all started with the Radio 4 today programme in Caversham. I was supposed to be on at 7:25am but I actually got on air at 7:45am. So what you may ask? Well I was supposed to be having a live debate with a member of Slough Borough council at 7:50 on TalkSport Radio. So with only minutes to spare and rushing to my car whilst on the mobile, I just managed to get on live but luckily it was a debate with the same councillor I had just been speaking with on Radio 4... so I couldn't have been any later than he was!
Well having gone from the civility of Radio 4's questions, Mike Parry, the host of TalkSport breakfast, was a real wakeup call. His opening comments about "the only reason Slough's population was increasing being due to Terminal 5 needing more cleaners" was both harsh but very funny and set the tone for the 5 minute interview.
Then a mad dash home to meet and greet the London Tonight people. The interview was always meant to be light-hearted and funny and hopefully it came across as such, when it was aired at 6:00pm today. Throughout the day I had friends ringing to tell me that the Maidenhead Advertiser article had been replicated, to a large extent, in The Times as well as on MSN and Sky News.
Well I thought that would be the end of the matter. I had raised a subject, not started a campaign, and hopefully if people see merit in the topic they will take it on further. Don't get me wrong the attention has been great and the majority of the interviews highly amusing but after saying the same thing 20 times, I began to feel a little weary.
But it wasn't the end! I had further interviews with British Forces Radio, Bucks Free Press and once again Radio 4 for one of their afternoon programmes. My only question is where were The Sun & The Mirror, I fully expected them to contact me ... it seems everyone else did? Who knows maybe tomorrow?
On a more serious note, I have recieved some negative comments about what I have been saying. I would like to clear up some of their points here if I may:
Firstly may I add that although this "campaign" started of with the fun idea of being able to change the postcode to WM I did realise that even if I managed to achieve this goal, it still wouldn't result in me getting lower car and house insurance premiums because I would still be living next to the same crime hotspot - Slough.
Only three things could reduce my car insurance:
either:
a: Move to another postcode
b: Sell the car and get a smaller one
Or
c: Get the crime rate down in Slough and RBWM at the same time.
Hopefully by raising the matter and getting people talking about car crime, insurance premiums and locations, it will help focus the minds of our civic leaders to further reduce the crime rate everywhere for the benefit of everyone.
John Betjemin's slough poem (1906 - 1984)
12:45:38 AM 
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