Saturday night at 8 o'clock found me not at the motion pictures but at the Cinema Museum, a surprise gem near the Oval cricket ground in South London, situated in a previous workhouse which was quickly home to the young Charlie Chaplin after his mother fell on tough times.

Truth be told, I rarely endeavor south of the river. As Dave, from the Winchester Club, alerted Arthur Daley: 'Great deal of extremely wicked people' in Sarf Lunnon.

Coincidentally, the event was a one-man show by my old mate George Layton, star, director, scriptwriter, author, whose finest hour - at least to my mind - was playing Des, the dodgy vehicle mechanic in Minder.

George was reading from his collection of brief stories embeded in the 1950s, when he was maturing in post-war Bradford. They're magnificently written, warm, amusing, expressive, a slice of history, a working-class variation of Richmal Crompton's Just William adventures.

The stories are based upon the trials and tribulations of a kid being raised by a single mom - an unconventional domesticity at that time, sadly only too typical today. The Fib And Other Stories has actually remained in print given that 1975 and its method on to the school curriculum, where it remains today.

I can't assist questioning, however, how typically these glorious texts are utilized in class these days, in between instructors stuffing their students' little heads with fashionable far-Left propaganda about 'white advantage', manifest destiny and, obviously, environment modification.

The kids in the monochrome school photograph which formed the background to George's reading were definitely white, however nobody might have described them as fortunate. Those were the days when 'austerity' suggested living from hand to mouth, not having to settle for a standard 50in flat screen TV, instead of a 65in OLED Ultra design, and only being able to pay for an iPhone 14 instead of the current all-singing, all-dancing AI version.

Child hardship was real, bread-and-dripping, holes-in-your-shoes stuff, not dining on Deliveroo and unwillingly using last season's Nike trainers.

Until the digital/social media transformation, children gained their knowledge mainly from books, composes Littlejohn

In the 1950s, children experienced authentic difficulty, not the hardship of aspiration and imagination which blights this generation, through no fault of their own. Today, kids live via their cellphones, instead of roaming totally free and experiencing life to the complete.

Until the digital/social media transformation, kids got their understanding primarily from books. Yes, TV played a huge function, as did the movies, however no place near the domination of TikTok and other apps offering pleasure principle in byte-sized pieces.

And how can squinting at the most recent CGI generated smash hit on a mobile phone a couple of inches broad ever compare with the type of old-school, cinema, Technicolor and Cinemascope, best-out-of-Hollywood experience celebrated at the Cinema Museum?

It can't. Just as the very best pictures are said to be on the radio, even much better pictures can be discovered in the printed word.

One of the most dismaying things I have actually checked out just recently was the author Anthony Horowitz complaining the truth that his 300-page books are far too long to engage the much shorter attention periods these days's kids.

No surprise kid, and certainly adult, literacy levels have actually plunged amazingly. All this has added to the shocking revelation that white, working class pupils - young boys in specific - are being left. Even Labour's Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has been forced to admit they have actually been 'betrayed' by the contemporary schools system.

They experience a lack of parental participation and following scarceness of goal. The white, working class boy in George Layton's stories certainly didn't suffer any adult disregard from his prideful mum. Nor did he do not have imagination or aspiration.

Education was the escape of hardship. It produced eloquent wordsmiths like George, in post-war Bradford - and our own dear Keith Waterhouse, late of this parish, who matured in hardship in close-by pre-war Leeds.

Literacy is the greatest gift we can bestow on any kid. My grandmas taught me to check out before I went to school, setting me on the early road to a satisfying profession at the wordface rather than the relative drudgery of the workplace.

George Layton is considering taking his one-man show on the road, to small provincial theatres. I have actually got a better concept.

If the Education Secretary wants to reverse the betrayal of white, working class kids she might start by getting the phone and inviting George to visit schools, checking out from his narratives.

I honestly believe that if they might be persuaded to search for from their mobiles for an hour, they 'd be enthralled and inspired by the experiences of a young boy not that various to them, in spite of the range in years.

You never ever understand, there might even be another Charlie Chaplin amongst them.

When they're not tasering one-legged 92-year-old guys or nicking people for publishing hurty words on the web, the cops are progressively taking 2nd jobs to supplement their earnings.

Some are working as painters and designers, others as scaffolders nand delivery motorists. More intriguingly, sidelines likewise consist of a DJ (PC Hammer, anyone?) and a reiki instructor, whatever that is.

My favourites are beekeeper and kickboxing coach, although the copper running a tea shop has to take the biscuit.

It's also reported that some officers are working as grocery store checkout assistants. I do not expect there's any danger of them nicking a few shoplifters.

Mind how you go.

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