25/05/2008 by admin.

Since I suffer badly from SAD I would love a long-term weather forecaster to tell me whether June/July/August are going to be sunny (and warm - not hot?). Today is coldish and gloomy. We were invited to a barbecue which I enjoy greatly from time to time but it has now changed into an indoor evening  meal. Lovely for us but a great deal more trouble for our dear hostess. I’m almost in favour of patio heaters (only joking!).

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23/05/2008 by admin.

The result in Crewe and Nantwich is a profound blow to Labour and to Gordon Brown. Whether it will be the knock-out blow will depend on how much of an impetus it will give to the already growing murmur that he could not win a general election. Think hard on that all you hard-working but high earning MPs in marginal, or even, after yesterday, not so marginal constituencies. My own view is that he will be ousted before the next general election but that the process will be slow and painful, revealing the many differences concealed by the as yet unyielding show of cabinet solidarity. Most commentators and psephologists seem this morning to agree with this view. A lamentable fall of a great but flawed man seems inevitable.

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17/05/2008 by admin.

If I go to London I am usually there with a purpose; seeing friends, going to the theatre or the opera (seldom nowadays since we like to be comfortable and have good sight lines) and, also eating out. Eating out in London is as variable as it ever was, some restaurants still offering very good value for money and others, mainly the chi-chi and highly-priced, committing a refined form of daylight robbery.

The contrast between the two types of establishment is greater than ever. I think that to pay over £100 per person for any meal is obscene and I am determined to keep quiet about the good-value-for money restaurants I know where an excellent meal with wine can still be had for around £40.  I keep quiet for fear they may become too popular, get their chef on TV and raise their prices.These are mainly NOT near theatres or opera houses but would pay the cost of a taxi, even at the outrageous price of these, to get there.  I ate at two such establishments this week. Lucky me!

I still like London but also like to have time to take it slowly and watch people scurrying about, totally oblivious sometimes to their historic surroundings, better appreciated probably by the better type of American tourist or even educated middle European newcomers than to ‘Londoners’ whatever the colour of their skin. Perhaps we ought to add a test of knowledge of  English history, not only to aspiring subjects of Her Majesty (not ‘citizens’ if you please) but to all born in this great city in the last twenty years. God knows they have a slim chance of learning much about this in British schools.  So they rush past the Banqueting House or Westminster Hall with no thought for the purpose of these buildings, their origins or their sometimes magnificent and sometimes horrible past. Pity!

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11/05/2008 by admin.

Well they are all crawling out of the woodwork aren’t they? Cherie Blair, John Prescott, Stephen Byers , and doubtless many more whispering in the corridors of power. One almost begins to feel sorry for Gordon. Poor man - he can’t change.Basically he is a very intelligent and diligent introvert and even if you sent him to stage school he would never be able to act for toffee. He is justifiably proud of the way he handled the economy from 1997 to 2007 but, poor man, even that has now turned sour and isn’t it just a matter of time , especially if the polls are right about the likely result of the Crewe by election? But what would he do? The best thing would be for him to return to academia or, better still, take some highly-paid job with a view to reforming the international monetary system. Come forward David Milliband and rescue us from a Blairite succession.

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05/05/2008 by admin.

When I was a teenager and showed any signs of indolence my dad would say I needed a ‘good shake-up’ which he was usually prepared to administer usually in a kind and thoughtful way though at the time it often didn’t seem like it to my adolescent mind.

Well Mr Brown and his government have been told that they need a good shake up bv some of the electorate. I say some because I don’t think we can take pride in an average 35% local election turnout though the high-profile campaigns in London brought out 45% of people in the GLA area.

Who is to administer this to Mr Brown? It can be none other than his fellow-members of the Labour Party and in particular his cabinet colleagues who have so far shown few signs of independance of mind for fear of being accused of disloyalty. Contrast this with good signs of there being several centres of policy initiative in the shadow cabinet around people like Chris Grayling, Michael Gove and William Hague ; admittedly it is easier to be independant in opposition but major changes in Labour Party thinking and presentation are needed. I say again what are Mr Brown’s highly-paid advisers doing about this? Even if one thought they were the answer to policy confusion which they are not, their effect on presentation style seems to have been minimal so far.

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