I was born in the early 1960s and lived with my parents in South London. It was an old Victorian building that had been divided into flats and we lived on the ground floor. Upstairs from us lived a young woman called Hannah Tailford. My parents remembered her very well, although I was just a small child at the time; she had a habit of walking from her flat to the shared bathroom without a stitch on. One day Hannah disappeared and her body was later found in the Thames, near Hammersmith Bridge. This was at the time of the so called Jack The Stripper murders, with Hannah being one victim out of a possible total of eight women whose naked bodies were found in the river between 1964 and 1965.
Our home became subject to press interest and my parents were worried for our safety - after all the perpetrator of the crimes had not been found. My mum wanted to leave the flat and move somewhere else. She therefore decided to write to Harold Wilson, who to his credit replied in person, and we found ourselves rehoused within a short while.
I often wonder how one of today's politicians would respond to such a request for rehousing. No personalised letter I'm sure; more likely a standard letter sent out by his or her secretary suggesting we look for alternative accommodation.
And now in this era of benefit cuts I keep asking what will Labour do or say. Ed Miliband is no tub thumping Aneurin Bevan, that's for sure. And when we turn to politicians for help do we get it or are we signposted to other organisations like Shelter or the CAB? The politicians of course are far too busy doing whatever it is they do these days.
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