Ray Winstone meets Essex Man

Talking of Simon Heffer and Essex Man it's interesting to see the essence of Essex Man alive and well in the shape of ultra-geezer Ray Winstone. When discussing West Ham on Talksport Radio, Essex resident Ray's comments on tax could have been mouthed by Heffer's 1990 creation.

"I can see myself leaving here quite soon. I love this country but I've had enough of it. I don't see what we're being given back. I just see the country being raped," declared Winstone. And of the taxman Ray said: "What does he give you back? I drive down the road and there's more holes in the road than what there is in a tennis racket, you know."

He also criticised the building of the Olympic Stadium ("They spent billions and billions and billions of pounds on a stadium and we can't build hospitals and we close down fire stations") and sympathised with Mo Farah, "The kid's worked all his life to get where he is, if he's getting paid that, that's all right, I haven't got any qualms with that. He's trained hard enough, and also don't forget he's got a sleeping partner anyway – it's called the taxman, the government. He's not a sleeping partner, he's in a coma because what does he give you back?"

At this rate he might be Conservative MP for Brentwood campaigning on the A13 Bump Road to the Sea. Though having driven in the Solomon Islands two years ago, I can assure Ray that Essex roads are comparatively smooth. And can't all those four-wheel drives cope with the odd bump?