Some readers may have noticed last week’s feature on BBC Breakfast about Brighton swimmer and little-known local celebrity Mercedes Gleitze who was the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1927. Her feat was initially challenged by a hoaxster and she made a second attempt in what became known as the ‘Vindication Swim’ and which is now the title of a film to be released later this year.
The movie score was written and directed on a shoestring budget by local film maker Elliott Hasler and features me in the cast playing the part of then Home Secretary William Joynson-Hicks. Blink and you will probably miss me. The apogee of my political career but I very much doubt the start of a stage one! I am not sure whether the Oscars beckon, but it was great fun and is a fascinating story worth seeing when it comes out.
Away from the grease paint but very much down with the grease and various other unmentionables I have further meetings over sewage with Southern Water later this week and specifically over the repeated spills that have been blighting the West Beach estate in Lancing. I will also be visiting the problem area again with local councillors to see what can be done and I will report back next week.
I have also joined forces with other West Sussex MPs receiving lots of complaints about the continued timetable disruption by Southern Trains where you can still not travel directly to Victoria, as if commuting into the capital was not challenging enough already. To add to traveller’s woes a reminder that from Saturday 19 February to Sunday 27 February 2022 the railway will close completely between Three Bridges & Brighton and Three Bridges & Lewes while major works take place. More details are available in my latest newsletter which was circulated earlier this week, available on my website if you do not already subscribe.
This week I helped host a delegation of French MPs at Westminster and it was a good opportunity to challenge them on when they are going to do more to cooperate over stopping the dangerous Channel small boat crossings, and to hear about the upcoming French presidential elections. I was tasked to give them a tour of the Palace of Westminster and it is always a pleasure to start in the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords. On one wall there is a huge mural of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and on the other the Battle of Waterloo 1815. History is so important. They took it well!
