When the movie Emma came out I fell in love with the exsquisite young vision that was Gwyneth Paltrow. Call me fickle but I generally fall in love about 3 times in every movie. That’s why we see films. Well, that’s why I see films. To be absorbed in the plot, to actually become, temporarily, – Read More-
My first ever Saturday job was helping my dad’s mate out in his bespoke tailoring shop in Soho. 1970. I was 14. And ran lots of errands and stuff, as my tailoring skills weren’t quite honed yet. In fact they never were, I can’t sew on a button. But I wasn’t there to stand with – Read More-
Its all a problem of perspective. Bit like a one-eyed man at a 3-d movie. But what’s happening in Egypt is a bit too gory for even Hollywood, at the moment. A court in Cairo yesterday sentenced 529 people to death. All in one go. A 45 minute ‘hearing’ but don’t ask me what was – Read More-
There’s a new ‘outcry’ about MP’s expenses. Not the last outcry, nor the seven before that, nor the previous 73, but a new one. And its all about glasses. Overspending on ‘designer’ models then claiming them as expenses for us to buy for them. Eyewear. Spectacles. Something about which I claim something of an understanding. – Read More-
Is this the best headline ever; from today’s Mail on Sunday: “Rebel Catholic priest confesses to sham gay marriage to a married Muslim to help him stay in the UK.” This is no mere: “Elvis ate my hamster!!!!” or “aliens stole my greenhouse!!!!” or “Tory MP grabbed my testicles at a party!!!!” Because this one – Read More-
Kate Bush is going to perform live for the fist time this century. Wow. Brilliant. 15 nights at the Hammersmith Apollo in August. Fab. Tickets will be like gold dust. Jest to hear her sing (??) Wuthering Heights again; amazing. Then she could do… errrr… hmmm… well, one of her other songs. Numbers. Tunes. Dances. – Read More-
When flight MH370 went missing I learned that 270 Chinese people had disappeared along with it. They’re still missing. And although there’s certainly plenty more Chinese left in the world, particularly in China… doh… this is not only a general tragedy but a deep personal one for me. Because as a student of Tai Chi – Read More-
George Osborne has presented his new budget. And it a brilliant one if you’re an old, grey, well-off saver with loads of money, who doesn’t smoke and really hates pot-holes in the road. In other words, a budget for old Tories. And cyclists. A grey budget. Which is odd for a man who is rather – Read More-
At last. A ‘test’ that we can believe. A real one performed by real scientists (Louisiana? real??) providing incontrovertible results. Meaning ‘ones that we want to hear’. Chocolate is good for you. But really good. Makes you live longer, stay healthier, enlarges your sexual organs, keeps you slim, fit, lowers blood pressure, raises… whatever’s good – Read More-
The question that everyone really wants the answer to, the one which spawns a fucking industry of testing, research, trials, drugs, medical papers and general quasi-scientific statistical bollocks is ‘so when will I die?’ Its a fear we realise as soon as we’re old enough to actually comprehend the finality and futility of our pathetic – Read More-