David Lammy (Thursday)

We invited him in today and the guy is a genius. I have followed his career from the off. He took over from the cult figure Bernie Grant in 2000 and seen both sets of Tottenham riots in the 90s and then more recent.

He grew up on a Tottenham council estate and had a gift for singing and so had a 'Billy Elliot' moment and got signed up by the prestigious Peterborough choir and subsequently offered a scholarship to go to school there. Safe to say he was the only black face around. His momentum continued as on a whim he applied to Harvard. On arrival he was told he was the first Black British guy to go there!

His career took off when he got to the HoP (he had never been there before) aged 26!!! and was immediately a focus point because he looked different and stuck out. He was heralded as the new black Tony Blair and then dubbed UK's Obama. He quipped that he looks nothing like either.

Amazingly this was the second time he had been to our building. In his early twenties trying to make ends meet he worked here as a security guard.

I am intent on buying his book which attempts to explain why the riots happened. It is called 'Out of the ashes'. His main point being that kids today in poor inner cities no longer have a stake in the community. He claims back when he was growing up people did. This was the real issue why people rioted because they felt helpless and nothing to lose. 'If you have a job and a mortgage you will never riot'. Same theory re Brexit and what I have been harping on about. In the UK many people live in abject conditions with poor public services. The Conserbative government being mostly to blame but also quite rightly the recent Labour government. These days it is also worse as all of the social housing is being taken out and replaced with private pop up buildings (take a look in south east London these days) meaning that poor folk are paying private rentals as opposed to the previous cheaper alternatives. There is a social crisis point with the riots and Brexit perhaps being the inflection points where it cannot get any worse. Brexiteers were voting as a result of their overwhelming dissatisfaction with their living standards. Nothing to lose.

I proudly grew up in south east London and a lot of my mates came from some of the toughest coucil estates in the land and feel priveledged to have shared the exeperineces we had together.  Politicians who are in tune with their constituents and overarching social fabric are at a premium. Unfortunately he only has his local community at heart as opposed to sharpening his elbows to get to the top. The country's loss is Tottenham's gain.

In and home on the Tank. Cheekily jogged quickly at lunch too.