Berdichev to Basildon

<p>I have often thought how my life would have been if I had started off in Basildon and ended up in Berdichev. Put it down to the sliding door of your life—events happen differently to what you prepare for which is well described in a 1998 film by Peter Howitt.</p><p>The simple fact is that I got stuck in the advice business and I am still in there. It is something to be an MP with the largest constituency in the country but it is quite another to have to keep an eye on the Jewish community which has kept me up all night. And I have never fully recovered.</p><p>Many of the quirks of life can be explained by being in the right place and at the right time. (In Yiddish there is also a long-standing attempt to explain the events which you cannot predict but happens anyway. It’s “beshert.” Then there is the nice warning sign for those who look too closely into the future—“man tracht” and “got lacht” [in English it may not have the same cutting edge man plans and G-d laughs]).</p>