Neighbourhood watch

Politicians get a poor enough press, so let us give praise where it is due. Stephen Pound, the honourable member for Ealing North, has added to the gaiety of the nation since he was elected five years ago.

Before that, his main claim to fame was as the boy who bought the pills with which Stephen Ward, the pimp in the Profumo scandal, committed suicide. (His father, a journalist, had befriended Ward and stood bail for him.)

Now, he is making a stand, not just on behalf of the suburbanites of the northern part of Ealing, but of people living next to hedges everywhere. Should a 12m leylandii be exempt from planning regulations because it is not a building? Of course not. And what are backbenchers for, if not to propose laws to curb such things as the "grotesque green giants" marching, Triffid-like, through leafy middle England?