Category: “Arts”

It is the normal fate of Chancellors, on the Sunday before a Budget, to see the newspapers plastered with predictions of its contents. Today, you have to work well into the inside pages before finding out what Alistair Darling may or, more likely given how tightly the Budget is held, may not, be thinking. Instead [...]

Ok, ok, I give in (to my Twitter followers and Facebook friends) and will explain recent bagpipe tweets. Along the way I will muse (blog and vlog) on identity.  I’ve been up in Scotland making a film for Scottish Television about bagpipes. It is part of a series STV are doing later in the year [...]

I liked it, though not as much as I was hoping to. My sons said much the same. My partner and daughter weren’t that keen to come, which suggests in the build up the message has been football, football, football, rather than incredible story of extraordinary period in the life of remarkable human being. First things [...]

Nice but sad evening out last night. Nice because we saw old friends – my first Mirror editor Mike Molloy, his wife Sandie and daughter Kate. Sad because it was the last time we will go to our favourite restaurant. We have been going to La Casalinga in St John’s Wood High Street for thirty [...]

I knew politics was sometimes dirty, but I cannot believe what has happened. Some dastardly sort has leaked to The Sun a private note I wrote to Peggy Mitchell as she continues her campaign for election to Walford Borough Council. An edited version appears on Page 8 of the paper today.  There has to be [...]

As an obsessive speller, I was horrified to see that in twittering on a speech I did on the environment yesterday, I mangled the word environment into ‘environmenent.’ I blamed this rare mis-spell on the fact that my tweet was about John Prescott, and I was therefore suffering from Subconcious Wordmangling Syndrome. Then someone pointed [...]

I thought I knew North London fairly well. So whenever I’ve seen ‘The Chocolate Factory’, I’ve always assumed I knew what it was. Indeed, as we parked the car before last night’s fundraiser for Hornsey and Wood Green Labour Party, saw it was taking place next to the Chocolate Factory, and Fiona asked ‘what’s The [...]

Good response on Facebook last night when I slipped in that D:Ream‘s ‘Things can only get better’ was one of my ten songs when I go on Dermot O’Leary‘s Time Capsule programme on Radio 2 tomorrow night. It is the first of a new series, and I really enjoyed deciding which records to choose. I [...]

Thanks to everyone (particularly Charlie, which nonetheless doesn’t qualify) for suggestions of people instantly recognisable by first name alone. I kicked off with Delia in advance of my lunch with her at Norwich v Burnley yesterday, and yes, to those who asked on my Facebook page, there was custard with the treacle sponge. One or [...]

Am still undecided whether to drive or train it to Norwich. Will be a last minute decision. At least the sun is shining, and I have lunch with Delia to look forward to on arrival. I know name-dropping is frowned upon, but lunch with Delia before Norwich v Burnley is a Campbell tradition. I hope [...]