24 November (Part 2) - Complaint lodged
Yesterday’s
mention of Freemasonry prompted a Contact Form message and a mild rebuke for my
critical tone. This was not a Parsons Brinckerhoff style
tirade of abuse,
it was only a little short of friendly. It said “One must assume that you
believe Freemasons to be dishonest, corrupt and in collusion . This is most
certainly not the case”.
I have known only three Freemasons in my life (as far as I know) and one of
those I last saw 30 years ago. It seemed to me that they spend their time
raising colossal amounts of money for good causes and tucking in to sumptuous
lunches. Despite that the feeling remained that there is an undercurrent of
mutual support that can go just a little too far for most people’s moral
compass; so I rang the only Freemason with whom I am in regular contact for
advice.
Mick Barnbrook, a Freemason for 28 years, did not disagree. “Masons have raised
millions, if not billions, of pounds for charities but every member knows that a
small minority joins for all the wrong reasons”. Thus armed I went ahead with
the aside in yesterday’s blog.
Perhaps it was a little biased ignoring as it did the positive aspects.
Hopefully that is corrected now.
Stefano Borella spoke of
there being ten Freemason Bexley councillors which
suggests seven disregarded the Standards Board’s instruction. Of the three
declarations in the Register of Members’ Interests (in May 2011) none were by
what readers of this blog might term ‘the villains’. If Freemasons want to wipe
the aurora of suspicion that surrounds them why are they so keen to promote it
by short-changing the Register?
Note: Nationally the Standards Board has been abolished. In
Bexley standards have been abandoned.