Leon Greenman 1910-2008

Leon Greenman died last week and was, to the best of my knowledge, buried today in an Orthodox Jewish service.

He was the only Englishman to be imprisoned in Auschwitz, where he lost both his wife and baby son to the gas chambers. From the 1960s until his death Greenman was an active anti-fascist campaigner taking part in demonstrations against the National Front and British National Party; the direct political descendants of those that killed his wife and baby.

He would also speak publicly of his experiences in the camps in the hope that we would never forget the atrocities committed.

Never forget.

Flint in "not a builder" shock

New Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint gave her first speech on environmentally friendly building earlier this week at the EcoBuild conference at Earls Court.

All was going swimmingly for Flint until a question from the floor asked how, whilst trying to renew our depleted stock of affordable housing, she would handle the problem of embedded energy.

"It's a very good question and I don't really know the answer. Its something I'll look into. I mean, I'm not a builder. I'm not an expert in this area," said a sheepish Flint. She then regained some composure and added that her job was to identify "what was the vision and who are the people who can make it happen".

Glad that's cleared up then. It would be terrible to have ministers who didn't have sufficient knowledge in their specialist field and tried to fill the void with business-speak nonsense.

Harry gives 'em hell

Big story this week is Harry Windsor fighting on the front line.

All very brave and commendable but can someone explain to me why, when a member of the royal family does something like this they get universal praise? The Times has "Royal warrior Prince Harry sees off the sneerers", The Telegraph "Prince Harry: He can hold his head high" , and The Sun "makes hero Harry a pin up".

Now, I'm sure the lad's very brave and all that. And having a crack at "Terry Taliban", as he so charmingly describes them, is certainly more commendable than rucking with paparazzi outside Boujis. But why is it that when someone from an incredibly privileged background goes to war they're a hero. Many UK soldiers have died in Iraq (175 according to the Iraqi Casualty Coalition website). I couldn't find figures for Afghanistan at the flick of a Google but the point remains...

Whatever you think of the "War on Terror" project, the majority of soldiers are ordinary people who have joined the armed forces to provide for those around them as best they can. They do their jobs and only get labelled heroes when they are killed. Why no media fanfare for them?

Answers on a postcard to the MOD please.