POOR old Poppy’s been in the wars and has to wear one of those ‘lampshades’ on her head while she’s on the mend.

“Aha,” laughed a friend when I mentioned it. “The Cone of Shame!”

I hadn’t heard them called that before, but I have to say it’s an apt name, because if it’s possible for a dog to look mortified, she certainly did for the first day or two, though she’s fine with it now.

It set me thinking that there are certain individuals who are far more deserving than my little lurcher of wearing a Cone of Shame, and on a permanent basis.

Jeremy Hunt springs to mind instantly, for the mess he’s making of our NHS and for his total inability to recognise how much his insouciant attitude to the trail of destruction in his wake is loathed by the public.

Along with all those ministers who’ve done nothing about the unfairness of raising the pension age for women so precipitately.

If I’d been born seven weeks earlier, I’d have started to receive my state pension in March last year.

As it was, I had to wait until November, when I was 63-and-a-half.

That was annoying enough, given that women of my generation have been through our entire adult lives planning for retirement to kick in at 60.

But if I’d been born a fortnight later I’d have to wait even longer, until March this year, to get my hands on the cash under this convoluted new system.

And far worse off are those friends who are just a few months younger than me. Some won’t see their money until they’re 65 or 66.

They’ve had no chance to make other arrangements, if they could afford to.

No way can that be justified.

There’s been a lot of anger directed (quite rightly) at Donald ‘The Groper’ Trump for the way he treats women.

Maybe there are things we should be demonstrating about much closer to home.

Jam tomorrow

WHETHER you like or loathe the idea of a riverside ‘piazza’ with restaurants lining the walkway between Wetherspoons and Crane Bridge, one thing’s for certain.

It would worsen the congestion caused by HGVs and transporters on Crane St.

Developers could, as they’ve suggested, knock down a house to make way for vans to access a delivery area.

But the drivers would have to swing out to make the turn.

And lorries would also be dropping off supplies. Even if they were banned during rush hours. And they’d be too big to get in.

They’d have to park up on the roadside, right by the bridge, blocking the route to the High Street junction.

I can’t see a way round that. As many a motorist will no doubt be saying of many a juggernaut.

anneriddle36@gmail.com