A cock-sure accountant wrecked my pension. I’ll never forgive him

Sharing personal experiences is so important for charities to hear about what we endure at first hand. It also means I can repeat my current top message: depression is my key concern, about which the NHS does little or nothing.

I also had an invitation to an event in Broadstairs, where Ted Heath hailed from, from his former political secretary Michael McManus. Alas, it was too far for me to manage.

Two dear friends whom we have entertained to lunch here took us out for lunch.

Charles Lewington was John Major’s former communications chief, a job he had also done for Conservative Central Office. He was formerly Political Editor of the Daily Express. On retirement he founded Hanover Communications, which he successfully sold to the Canadian brewing conglomerate Molson Coors. He said they were good to deal with. He hadn’t kept any equity, just the cash.

He said there were some very good annuity rates in the current market.

I said, alas, the bulk of my pension pot had gone to HMRC after I fell for a cock-sure wide-boy accountant who wrongly set me up as a PLC while I was mainly working for ITN. He admitted it was wrong-headed but offered no compensation. HMRC said I had committed no crime but demanded back tax and National Insurance.

I’ll never forgive that accountant. We explored legal action, but even that was costly, let alone going to court. The accountant’s professional association wasn’t interested in helping either — a bunch of incompetent back-scratchers.

With Charles came David Jordan, with whom I had been at Bristol University. Like many of us, he went into the media, joining the BBC, where he is Director of Editorial Policy.

Before that he had worked as a researcher on LWT’s peerless Brian Walden interview show.

We talked at length about an army of mutual friends in broadcasting, politics and the voluntary sector.

I am blessed with great, loyal and able friends — just lovely guys too, who Sally also likes. She had her broadcasting memories and anecdotes, too.

It was great fun and most enlightening.

In the news, I read about the trial of the alleged maker of the Lockerbie bomb. I remember clearly covering the night a Pan Am 747 was blown up in mid-flight from the UK to the USA. The friends and families of the victims have been made to wait for justice and closure yet again, adding insult to endless injury.

Andy Burnham went to Ukraine — almost a rite of passage for all UK prime ministers. He did well.

Angela Rayner announced investment of nearly £10billion for low-cost, affordable housing.

It reminded me of Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy policy. I reported on the first instance in her Finchley constituency, with her handing over the keys to a slightly bewildered couple. It allowed council tenants to purchase their homes.

It was pure Thatcherism, aimed at creating her property-owning democracy. As with privatisation and the selling of shares in previously state-owned monopolies, it was a political philosophy as much as economics: get more shareholders into society and they’ll support capitalism.

It was flawed by inadequate regulation, and Right to Buy created a huge public housing crisis we still live with. Councils had to use the proceeds to pay off debt rather than build replacement social housing.

Lower public debt at the price of homelessness.

Abroad, the melting glacier in Tibet took the lives of hundreds, including many Brits. A ghastly end for so many on the hippy trail to peace and free love.

At week’s end, it still dominates national network news.

The return of Meghan and Harry got more attention than it deserved. As was said in Gone with the Wind: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”