I UNDERSTAND that we sadly live in a world of increasing cynicism and scepticism and that, in this context, politicians are about as popular as estate agents or journalists (with apologies to both of these fine professions).

I just wanted to add a small note of caution and to ask people to remember, when they are next condemning all politicians, local and national, that there are MPs and councillors from all parties up and down the country whose motivation is principally to serve the public, to do good works and to seldom think about the impact on themselves and their families as they do so.

In Harrow, over recent months, we have lost two such people whose contribution to community life in Harrow was immense and both of them will be sorely missed. We said goodbye to Dhirubhai Lavingia recently and I was very privileged to say of few words at his cremation service. Dhirubhai was a Labour councillor for Marlborough ward for some years and a community activist throughout his life.

He was both a gentleman and a giant and worked tirelessly not just for the people of Marlborough but for the wider Harrow community and he will be sorely missed. My heart goes out to his family but they can be very very proud of all that he did to make Harrow a brighter and fairer place.

Just before Christmas, we also lost Janet Cowan. Janet was a Conservative councillor - for Kenton West and then Canons ward - for a number of years and had also been mayor in her own right as well as Mayoress when her husband John, also a councillor, was mayor. Janet served our community tirelessly and with a warmth and ebullience that John and their family can, and should, be very proud of. Always very hard-working and always with a broad smile, she carried out her mayoral duties in a way that made all of Harrow proud. She will again be sorely missed and my most sincere condolences go to John and the family - and again, they can be very very proud of all that she did to make Harrow a brighter and fairer place. At the end of this month we will rightly have a chance to celebrate Janet's life at a Civic Memorial service.

Two strong and stalwart servants of the London Borough of Harrow, both of whom will be missed by friends, family and community. Both of whom went about their business in a calm, assured and cheerful way - with the needs of the people they represented paramount in all that they undertook. Both politicians and a reminder that politics can be about public service, virtue and helping people and not simply the yahboo Punch and Judy partisan soap opera as the cynics would have it.