‘Taxi ride to a new view from Albania’

‘We can all learn from criticism can’t we?’ (Image: Getty)We got into a very interesting conversation about why he had come over here: it was because there was a lot of work. This is a place where if you worked hard you were rewarded. The discussion got around to the economy, which so many people are telling us is in an appalling state. Interestingly, my new friend from Albania didn’t see it that way.He said if he needed more money he went out and worked a bit longer. And if he couldn’t pay his bills, rather than claim from the state, he could find another job, work hard and provide for his family. He didn’t need to go to food banks and he didn’t need a handout “What is the biggest problem with us Brits?” I asked. He assured me he didn’t want to offend me or my countrymen but named two main problems. The first was lack of respect from younger people and the second was laziness.On the respect issue, apparently many times whole families all taking the cab together have had arguments in which the children have shown their parents and even their grandparents no respect at all.This wouldn’t wash in many other countries, where an older person who has had the experience of life would be listened to by a younger person. Here it seems to be the other way around.On the laziness front, he felt we only want to do what we want to do and if we can’t, we expect other people to pay us to do nothing.Other people, of course, being those of us who work and pay tax.I have many friends in the catering business and they tell me getting staff to work as waiters or in the kitchen has become almost impossible. It is a job many Brits feel is beneath them.So my new Albanian friend may have a couple of good points. We can all learn from criticism can’t we? He also went on to say he was disgusted by the criminal element of his countrymen who come over here and be in the black economy or crime. He then apologised for them profusely.A taxi ride that took me on a journey to a new understanding of Albania – and us. ‘None of the other contestants are going to get half as much publicity’ (Image: Getty)Am I the only person not that fussed about Matt Hancock joining all those so-called “celebrities” in the jungle?In fact, I think he’ll be quite entertaining because, let’s face it, he’s not going to get a better shop window than this for putting his side of the story – from Covid-battling Health Minister to kissing away his career on camera.You might say it’s terrible that we are still paying his salary as an MP, but he probably won’t be getting paid by the public purse much longer. And there are suggestions he could have a whole new career on reality TV.I suspect most people will be glued to their TVs. None of the other contestants are going to get half as much publicity, and anyone who hates politicians can vote for him to be covered in creepy crawly insects and have to chew on the tastiest bits of kangaroo testicles.Chris Moyles in the JungleWell, it looks like TV running up to Christmas might be quite entertaining. Edgy TV and radio presenter Chris Moyles is also in the jungle.I first met him when he was 14 and – although I often claim he came to work on a Leeds radio station where I was doing a late-night show to make me coffee – that’s not correct. He joined after I’d left, but he did interview me for his own station which, I think, was based in his garage.Back in 2014 when I wrote my autobiography he wrote the foreword and set the record straight. We’ve been mates a long time. All the best, Chris.With your bad boy reputation, eating creepy crawlies and getting covered in excrement will give a whole new meaning to you getting down and dirty.Every year I get a list from the broadcasting authorities suggesting what I should and shouldn’t talk about – not that it’s compulsory to follow. And every year I’m told it will be fine for me to pretend Father Christmas actually exists.Interestingly, nobody has said that he should change colour, speak a different language or have a different back story, which is great.In fact, this year on Christmas Eve I will be putting out a bottle of very nice red wine and a large piece of Madeira cake. It will have disappeared by the morning – consumed, obviously, by Father Christmas. And very nice he will find it, too.Labouring hard with a loser planI am sick of the smugness of the Left. They are making a great to-do about the state this Government has got us into and how they would do so much better. But last time they tried, they admitted they spent all the money.Now we find ourselves in a financial crisis caused, apart from the disastrous Truss/ Kwarteng mini-Budget, by three outside issues: Covid, climate change and the Ukrainian war, all of which needed to be addressed by this government.They haven’t always done their best and the stupidity of the way they change leaders needs to be addressed, but the constant attacks on them are ludicrous. Christmas… Santa Claus (Image: Getty)MARS Wrigley has decided to drop Bounty bars from some boxes of Christmas Celebration chocolates after 39 per cent in a survey voted them down.Have they gone mad? I love a Bounty: All that coconut – it’s one of your five-a-day!Or are there complaints of cultural appropriation from some South Seas island?It’s time we fans fought back. So join me in a Mutiny on the Bounty!We need to figure out a solution to the small boat problemHome Secretary Suella Braverman used the term “invasion” in relation to the immigration crisis, for which she got an enormous amount of flak, but she was right. It is an invasion, with nearly 40,000 migrants so far this year.Recently-appointed Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said he would “never demonise people coming to this country in pursuit of a better life” but did agree with Suella that “the scale of the challenge is very significant”.Too right it is! Back in 2020 the boat-people figure was just 8,404.When is the Government going to get its act together to sort out this flood of people?We’ve now got a flurry of activity to process asylum seekers more quickly, and suggestions of sending some to Paraguay. I’m not racist as people who follow me will know. But think about that number for a while: 40,000.