Each week I will use this space to share my five thoughts of the week – the good, the bad and the ugly.

But, I’m not selfish, I’m also very happy to donate the space to guest writers to have their say, so write to me:

News Shopper: NOW THEN, NOW THEN: Jimmy Savile as the presenter of the BBC’s flagship pop music programme Top Of The Pops

1. Jimmy Savile was a sick, perverted individual and it’s a great shame he wasn’t brought to justice while alive. However, I can’t help feeling the way other “celebrities” are now being hauled before the courts has more to do with the way the BBC acted at the time and the guilt certain individuals, who were in power at the Beeb then, feel now. How can Cliff possibly prove what he didn’t do 29 years ago?   

News Shopper: FINAL LINEUP: The Great British Bake Off finalists and presenters, from left, Ruby, Mary Berry, Kimberley, Frances and Paul Hollywood

2. I know beards are very much the in thing and I’m equally sure beard nets make the wearers look remarkably daft, but there’s hair cascading everywhere in the Great British Bake Off. I say, contain those bushy beards. And, thank goodness that lank ponytail has been voted off.

News Shopper: Young Reporter

3. Has your school signed up for News Shopper’s Young Reporter scheme yet? We want to hear from London’s most talented teenage journalists. There are two age groups – years 10 and 11 and years 12 and 13. To get involved ring Diana Jarvis now on 020 8722 6378 or email djarvis@london.newsquest.co.uk.

News Shopper: One of the vandalised tyres.

4. I bought my first car, about eighth hand I think, for £50 – perhaps not surprising in 1979. But, it never needed new tyres. These days my car seems to need new tyres every few months. Are tyres softer now and made to wear out quicker? Surely the roads today can’t be that much worse, can they?

News Shopper: We’re all of a Twitter

5. Thanks very much to my 150th follower on Twitter. I don’t care what the others say, that photograph of yourself is incredible.

 

Thank you for reading.

Andrew Parkes, editor 

 

Send in your 5THOUGHTS by email to aparkes@london.newsquest.co.uk

Send on Twitter to @parkestheeditor.

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