Who's Who, What's What

The Leader of Durham County Council is Councillor Simon Henig.

He is a somewhat improbable figure for the job, being an academic from outside who must struggle to understand what is being said at many Labour Party meetings in County Durham.

But leaving aside even that, his Wikipedia entry links to that of his mother, to that of his father, and to that of his late paternal grandfather.

I do not begrudge him his PhD, or his CBE, or any of that. Quite the reverse, in fact.

But in the highly unlikely event that I might ever acquire an entry in Who's Who, then I should not be the third generation of my family to be listed in it.

Being only a colonial archdeacon, my father was never in it. My mother is not a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.

Councillor Henig's £52,363 in councillor's allowances probably puts his total income over £100,000, and certainly over £90,000. His wife also has councillor's allowances of £14,851.

All in all, a worthy successor to Alderman Andrew Cunningham.

And all in all, I really do not think that Councillor Henig quite grasps the need for the work that is done by the 2700 Teaching Assistants whom he intends to sack, and then to rehire on a 25 per cent pay cut.

Even Andrew Cunningham did not lose Labour overall control of Durham County Council.

But that is coming next May. Thanks to Simon Henig.