Ian Chang (left) is the leader of Kingston University Symphony Orchestra. He was also the soloist this evening in a performance of John Williams' music for Schindler's List. On the right is a rising star, David Horden, who had won the concerto contest for the second year running. He fronted a concerto that was completely new to me, and by a composer I hadn't come across...
News reaches me that the RAF are to launch a range of fashion clothing. Now the more cynical amongst you may think this is just a cunning wheeze to try and paper over the cracks of yet another tight settlement for the MOD in the budget. But no no no, this is an attempt to educate the public about the RAF. Yes, of course, I learnt everything I know about quantum physics from buying a pair of jeans
I'm normally a fan of articles and posts by the BBC Economics Reporter Evan Davis, but today's is just plain irresponsible for several reasons outlined below. Many of the arguments put forward by him are truistic and consequently harmless, but there is also a disregard for some very real risks. Davis' idea in summary is that you should continue to buy property anyway because if it continues to rise you are quids in (true) and if it falls..... well, you still have a house and anyway, everybody else's house has got cheaper too, so it'll be easier to trade up. ...
This site has been recommended to me by friends at work. They have raved about it, saying you can save a fortune on it. I have sent the link to my wife for her review. Her middle name is "reduced for a quickie", so she should be able to give me an objective view on it.
I have gone off normal black tea. After experimenting with green and red tea, I have now found the tea for me. White tea.
I know its cheap ITV tea time trash, but I thoroughly enjoy Harry Hill's TV burp. While being a mainstream comedian, he seems to incorporate a remarkable intellectual sharpness into his comedy. As a tribute, I have enshrined one of his zanier quotes in my sidebar.
Despite Blair and Hain repeatedly saying that the 26th March was a final, final deadline, UTV reports that the DUP will request and probably get a six week delay before nominating ministers to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It seems difficult to see how the British government will squirm out of this and save any "face"at all.
With the launch of the utterly overpriced Playstation 3, I was amazed to hear Sony's "spin" on the launch of the console. Unlike the XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, there are no shortages of Playstation 3 at launch. Sony claim that this is because "They have seen the mistakes made by their rivals and they have ensured that demand has been more than met". The real story is, of course, rather different. Whereas Nintendo Wii's are still unavailable unless pre-ordered due top the continued staggering demand for them, Sony simply do not have enough buyers out there ...
If you can watch only one short piece about the Ending of the Slave Trade it should be this.
I'm nbot usually one to name drop, but I'll have a go today. Last night I had a drink with the Lithuanian Ambassador, who is also touted as being future leader of Lithuania. He was attending with my good friend Richard Stephenson (he of the Westminster Challenge Charity) a function in Norwich, and as they were staying literally ten minutes walk away from me, it was a good excuse to catch up with Richard. I tend to think I can chat to anyone about anything, and I was pleased that my studying of East European and Baltic ...
Good polls again for the conservatives this week. and yet all is not as it should be. Your chance to choose this weeks worst moment for the Tories.
Cameron takes a private jet - after proposing new taxes on flights. Tory delegates boycott Cameron's conference speech Tory MPs and Peers play "don't follow the leader" Conservatives fail to spot the tax rise for the low-paid
I don't think we've heard a rock band in the Council Chamber before, but today we heard two! Signs to Nowhere (left) and The Fuzz (right) The Music and Arts Service for schools in Kingston put on two shows to showcase some of the best performances by young people and to raise funds for my charity, Young Kingston. People missed some excellent acts in the first...
Yesterday was manifesto launch day for our mayoral candidate Christine McHugh, so we were delighted to have Simon Hughes come and support us. He had a packed schedule, having had to attend a funeral in his constituency before taking the train to Luton and then on to the centre of the universe, Bedford! I was on detail to collect him from Luton - this was a subject of some hilarity in my local party it has to be said (may have something to do with a reputation for er........occasionally being a tad late?) But I was able to confound them ...
A day of hectic leafleting today, interspersed with case work. I began early on meeting a resident of Crosslands on Prestwich Hills, who would like an oddly-sited lamp-post to be re-positioned. She was also concerned about some anti-social behaviour in the alleyway connecting Crosslands to the rest of Prestwich Hills. I have often thought this is a pretty needless alleyway, since it only takes a
I've had a comment on my previous post about the Kinks heritage of the Clissold Arms, which has details of a petition everyone can go and sign: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/kinksattheclissold/ The campaign and the petition featured in a two page article in The Independent today apparently and the story has already been covered by the NME as well as the Muswell Hill Journal. The organisers say that in less than 2 days, almost 400 people have signed the petition already and they are aiming to go over 1000 signatures by Tuesday. Why not be one of that ...
My House Points column from yesterday's Liberal Democrat News. I have a feeling I have written this one several times before, and the limit of 375 words always seems to mean that I hit the bottom of the page just as I am starting to get somewhere interesting. So let's take the argument a little further. The dwindling of the sort of informal authority exercised in the past by parents, teachers and other public servants has not led to an upsurge in freedom. Instead it has led to demands that the state licenses new figures to take over ...
Exciting news: Mr Davy's parsnip appears on page 2 of today's Guardian. Lovers of Shropshire vegetables should also read this.
As the first match to be played at Wembley is taking place, I'm on a train to Manchester. I would have been watching England U21s playing Italy U21s if I could have got a ticket. But despite trying online and by phone as soon as they went on sale and through that afternoon, couldn't get one. The FA's online ticketing system is frankly rubbish. Getting tickets on Ticketmaster can be very difficult, but only for events that sell out within half an hour or so. The England match apparently only sold out after 6 hours, but the FA system ...
I've moved! I am now living in a much bigger house than my flat so can enjoy the extra space that an offic brings and also looking forward to the warmer months when I can spend some time sipping a nice cool glass of vino in the garden. In Epping Forest there is also another reason why living in a house brings benefits. Door step recycling. The problem with living in a flat is the lack of 
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group has threatened its staff with disciplinary action if they do not have their primary bank account with the Royal Bank of Scotland. Apparently this affects some 14,000 of their staff and the union is taking legal advice. I cannot believe that such a term in a persons employment contract could be legal. If it is then a whole host of people in different lines of employment could find themselves under similar threat. Perhaps employees of the BBC should be banned from watching ITV or Sky. Employees at ...
It would be undignified to enjoy reading this too much. But we have to have our little pleasures in life, don't we? The title, in itself causes some amusement: "Lord Snotty, his titanic ego and the strange case of a missing title." The vision of a blue-collar Chicago jury ploughing its way through verbose emails from Conrad Black and the details of Barbara Amiel's "$60,000 birthday party...
The Tories seem to have chosen George Osbourne as the Defector-finder-in-chief. This is an ideal choice. I was recently watching Mr Osbourne making some of his conference speeches. He reminded me of a particularly unpopular, smart-alec, fifth-former. He looks as though he has only recently acquired long trousers. Goodness knows how anyone can expect him to be taken seriously as a potential
The news output from Northern Ireland has been a bit quiet for a while. But the deadline of Monday, 26th March has crept up on us. The DUP and Sinn Fein meet today. The signs are that, hopefully, the deadline will be met: BBC Northern Ireland political editor Mark Devenport said: "Most observers believe the DUP leader, Ian Paisley, is ready, in principle, to share power.
It's all happening in my patch - a council by-election in Abbey Road Ward, City of Westminster. Yes, that Abbey Road. Okay there are millionaire's row houses with huge price tags and the Tory majority is a challenge, but that was true of Richmond too, and look what happened there. There is a Brent ward on one side of Abbey Road Ward and a Camden ward on the other. Both have Lib Dem councillors. Our excellent prospective candidate, Mark Blackburn, hosted a funds-and-consciousness-raising film evening on 22nd March. I gave rubbish directions ... 
Too clever by half (Peter Black) Tory Defection Strategy Backfires (UK Daily Pundit) Campbell attacks stop-and-search (BBC) Sir Menzies launches Tory attack (Metro) Cameron hints at Con-Lib pact in move to oust Labour from power (Indy)
Each LibDem local party has its USP when it comes to social functions. At the Richmond Park dinner and question time in St Luke’s parish community centre in Kew last night it was the Kew Wind Quintet, who serenaded the 70-odd guests with Mozart et al, while the smoked salmon canapés circulated. The hot topic [...]
Menzies will launched a stinging attack on the Tories at our regional conference in Maidenhead today. I particularly like this bit: Political parties are more than their leaders and if the Conservative Party aspires to liberalism, Mr Cameron must convince his members of it. He must ensure that they are ready to leave behind the baggage of Europhobia, homophobia, and xenophobia. Not just in
I have just heard Dafydd Iwan tell Radio Wales that Plaid Cymru believe that the Welsh Assembly Government should be able to opt out of the Trident programme and have control over defence. No doubt this will be in their manifesto when it is published.
Another busy day starting with an NUT Cymru Conference in Cardiff and then back to Swansea to greet Charles Kennedy and Lembit Őpik, who are visiting as part of their two day campaign tour around Wales. I was talking to some Labour MPs on Thursday night and made the suggestion that Gordon Brown had tried to be too clever in his budget and that this had rebounded on him. One of the MPs agreed with me and suggested that his advisors should have foreseen this and planned accordingly. They expressed astonishment that this had not been done. Whether ...
Congratulations to the primary schools in Speke and Garston that took part in the Our Walk to School project! They had a day's event yesterday to mark their achievements. I went along to the event, at the Marriott Hotel, to see the displays and films made by the children on road safety. They had really thought, not just about what was dangerous, but what should be done to make it less so. So well done to Stocktonwood, St Ambrose, St Christophers, Middlefield, Garston C of E, St Francis of Assisi, Holy Trinity and Banks Road. | < | March 2007 | > | ||||
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