It’s time to put my walking boots on again and have a change of scenery from
the flat Fenland landscape, so I’m heading for the lush Forest of Dean.
I’m off with the Ramblers again for a loooooong weekend, only this time I will be able to rest my aching feet in the comfort of a former hunting lodge of Charles II instead of a youth hostel.
And we’ll be travelling there by coach, which in itself could be an adventure. Hope I don’t end up with blisters like these!
I wonder how many pensioners have knocked on their new neighbour’s door to borrow a cup of sugar.
Ronnie Knight, now 73, the former East End gangster once married to Barbara Windsor, has moved into a very modest one-bed pensioners’ housing block in Cambridge where he pays £360 a month rent.
He has chatted with fellow pensioners about his life of crime and marriage to Babs, who provided furniture for his flat when he moved in.
His high life now includes a choice of bingo, coffee mornings, shopping trips to Tesco, a game of dominoes, trips to Newmarket races and afternoon cream teas. A far cry from the showbiz parties he once frequented, though he is said to keep himself to himself.
He hit hard times a few years ago when he was caught shoplifting, tame stuff compared to the former crimes of the once flamboyant villain who lived the high life on the “Costa del Crime” for 10 years on part of the proceeds of a £6 million robbery.
I’ve got no idea why he ended up in Cambridge, but he is in good company, among the great and the good and some of the cleverest brains in the world.
I like Sir Alan Sugar’s tough no-nonsense approach. I like the fact that he is not obsessed by youth, that his anchorman and woman are respected for their skills and experience, it doesn’t matter that they have grey hair.
Still, he can make mistakes like anyone else, as his choice on last year’s The Apprentice proved with Michelle Dewberry walking out on her £100,000 year job after only four months.
I dipped into the new series last night and silly Andy should have known better than to plead with Sir Alan for a second chance after being told “your fired”. Poor judgement again.
Did you ever have a boss that put the fear of God in you? As a cub reporter, my Glaswegian news editor would fiercely order me to go out “off diary” and not return unless I had half a dozen good stories in my notebook. I was too terrified not to, but it did the trick. He wasn’t so hard on the lads in the office, it seemed to give him pleasure to order me about that way. I wonder what’s happened to him now.
This programme does seem to bring out the worst of people’s characters, though that could be due to heavy editing. Every other sentence on last year’s show seemed to have the f-word last year. I just hope this year’s contestants realise there is no need to swear constantly, that it is a huge turn off for employers, as well as viewers.
What an amazing coincidence. The very same evening that Guido accuses 
political hacks of being restrained, Charles Clarke blames the mainstream media for creating “a lack of national self-confidence” about Britain – and suggests that legislation might be necessary for them to toe the line.
Strong stuff. And ironically, the sacked Home Secretary vented his anger against the media in a speech at the Royal Television Society entitled “New Labour & The Media: Ten Years On”.
He urged politicians not to pander to the Press, described how the media had been setting the political agenda and that Labour should “reinvent” itself if it wanted to win the next election.
Here are a few of his quotes:
“The media does need to restrain itself, and if it does not do so voluntarily then it will need to be done by statute. Of course many parts of the media do not accept the need for some of these constraints but I hope that our media will accept that they and the way in which they report does have an important influence upon our society, and that means that they have to make some changes to the way in which they look at the world.”
And …
“We have to be absolutely clear that the decisions we take in Parliament or Government are principally motivated by the merits of the case and not by the search for media plaudits, Party applause or personal advantage.”
And ….
“The last ten years have been a decade of media pomp, in which the new Labour Government has too often colluded. The practices which I think were necessary as we came to power have been extended and developed in ways which have ultimately damaged the political process and trust in politics and politicians, particularly from New Labour.
“..media power has changed Government policy on important matters of substance. I have no doubt that media attitudes and threats have been decisive in influencing British attitudes to the European Union, in inhibiting reform in the criminal justice system, in influencing levels and structures of taxation and of course in influencing policies towards the media itself. In general this media power has focused upon short-term quick fixes, sometimes purely presentational, rather than the kind of long-term and difficult reform which many of our institutions need, in some cases desperately.”
And…
“I have to say that Labour’s greatest need, if we are to win the next General Election, is to assess openly and genuinely our successes and failures in government. I am certain that on that basis we will need to reinvent ourselves. We cannot and should not say to the British people that a vote for Labour is simply a vote for more of the same. And there is no way to do that without talking about the issues, openly and confidently, as I have been trying to do for some months now.
“And it is certainly right that there are serious divisions caused by those candidates for Leader and Deputy Leader who have entered the contest before there’s even a vacancy, who have publicly appointed their campaign managers and who prefer backroom conspiracy and plots to open discussion of the policy challenges we face.
“These actions weaken the Party in any case. But they also undermine and weaken the authority of the Prime Minister when authority is important, as we see in relation to Iran today. These matters have to be dealt with and solved by a strong Prime Minister, with the support of the whole country.”
And…
“We need to talk straight to people, engaging the concerns and questions that they have, rather than appearing to evade and dissimulate.
“These things are particularly important for Labour, since in the eyes of the people, as shown in poll after poll, trust in the New Labour leadership of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and John Prescott has evaporated, wholly unjust though that is.”
And …
“..perhaps most damaging of all is the way in which some parts of the media have built up or reinforced a mood of lack of national self confidence. “
Charles Clarke goes on to say that people are better educated and more questioning, so why can’t they be allowed to make their own mind up about what they read or hear via the media? Why should Labour need to reinvent itself if it feels it has done a good job? Interestingly Charles Clarke describes how Tony Blair wooed the Press in the early days of New Labour, but that it has now turned sour for them.
Following on from the proposed recent restraints to the Freedom of Information Act, it is ludicrous to imagine that our Press will agree to any further restrictions. Our free Press must be maintained, it’s an inherent part of our democracy. It does not pander to the spin of government any longer, but reflects the mood of today’s society, else it cannot succeed.
The full text of Charles Clarke’s speech can be found courtesy of Nick Robinson, scroll down to the end of the post.
Blogging for me has been 99% fun one with just the odd nutter 
and one cyber bully. For Kathy Sierra, a respected American blogger, it has turned into the most horrific nightmare after she was issued with in a series of death threats which have forced her to stop writing.
The threats resulted in a picture of her next to a noose, you can read Kathy’s nightmare story here, and her post had a staggering 1084 comments at the time of writing, such is the shockwaves this has caused. She is now a prisoner in a home, remaining behind locked doors.
Kathy’s blog is not controversial, she is a tech writer and focuses on social media, I cannot imagine why she has been singled out for this horrific abuse. She believes it is because she is a woman. Other bloggers have temporarily suspended their blogs in a show of support, including ace blogger Robert Scoble.
It is unclear who the authors of the threats are. but Kathy is particularly disturbed that some of them were hosted on blogs that are authored by or owned by a group that includes some prominent bloggers. If that is the case, is it not possible to track down the source of the links? We must surely have the technical resources and expertise to locate these faceless cowards.
Kathy is obviously deeply shocked and needs to take a break. I hope she won’t give up blogging because of a few anonymous bullies, that their identifies will be discovered and they will be named and shamed and prosecuted – and, even worst, reviled in blogosphere. We need a successful prosecution here to act as a warning to other cyber bullies, we need to make an example of them so they know they can’t get away with it.
Here’s one good reason to forsake your car and use public transport – you 
could buy a ticket to romance as a survey has shown that 1 in 30 people fall in love on a coach.
These don’t seem particularly high odds to me, but I like the two other results which showed that one in 10 passengers had a life-changing idea while travelling in a coach and one in 15 people made a long-term friendship.
Funnily enough, I have a long coach trip planned this weekend to the Forest of Dean with some walking buddies, it now sounds infinitely more attractive than I thought. Have you had a life-changing experience as a result of a memorable coach trip? There’s always a first time and I shall soon find out for myself.
Does anyone know the whereabouts of Bona Mugabe? Our government thought she was studying at the LSE, but this has been hotly denied by the university. So is she in the UK or isn’t she?
Regardless of her whereabouts, the Foreign Office is pressing ahead with a travel ban against Robert Mugabe’s family . I wonder why a similar ban was not imposed against Stalin’s daughter Svetlana when she moved to Cambridge in 1982, and her daughter Olga who was educated at The Friends’ Quaker school in Saffron Walden. Olga Peters is today listed as one of the schools alumni and associates, along with our great actress Dame Judi Dench, Philip Amis, the son of Kingsley Amis and Baron Newton of Braintree, a former Leader of the Commons.
There is no explanation as to how Foreign Office Minister Ian McCartney made such a humiliating cock-up yesterday, with his officials quick to save their skin saying that he had become a bit confused” on the issue. Is he fit for office, if this is the case?
I asked MP James Dudderidge, whose question in the Commons raised this matter, for an update, and in an email this morning, he said he was waiting for clarification himself:
“The FCO are now saying he “(McCartney) misrecollected” an earlier briefing and is a “bit confused”. He is reportedly going to apologise to the House, but I have not seen anything from him saying she is not studying in the UK, although Sky got an email from Zim that looks possible and says that she is doing her A levels in Harare… I will make sure you get another brief when things become clearer. The LSE have issued a denial although I have not seen this.”
So I hope to keep you posted on further updates from James.
It is not believed that Bona Mugabe (pictured next to her shopoholic mum Grace) is politically active, so should she pay for the sins of her father? However, the name Mugabe is associated with revulsion and allowing his daughter to be educated here is tantamount to offering support to his family. I just wonder why why the same ban didn’t apply to the tyrant Stalin’s kin.
There were two major events in Cambridge last night, a sell-out concert featuring Lemar and just 
across the road, the even more pulsating Al Gore himself presenting his Oscar winning film An Inconvenient Truth to another packed house.
I naturally headed for the latter, having been invited by Cambridge University’s Programme for Industry, which scored a major triumph in securing Al’s presidential-style presence. I was joined by scientists, business leaders and academics, as well as NGOs, faith groups and politicians.
But there were also a couple of very surprising names on the delegate’s list – Sir Alex Ferguson and his son Jason. In fact, they almost came and sat next to me, until they realised my row was allocated to the media and they quickly shuffled off to the back row instead.
However, I followed in hot pursuit to ask Sir Alex about his interest in climate change, but he was not forthcoming. He was very dismissive and refused to make any comment on the subject, saying he was just there as a spectator.
There must have been a reason for his presence, I imagine he gets lots of invites, so why the sudden interest in climate change, as commendable as it is? Why refuse to talk about it? Is he also planning to be one of planet earth’s messengers? Does he have carbon zero plans for Manchester United? Maybe his club will lead the way with solar panels and wind turbines.
I tried to break the ice by saying how I had last seen him at Newmarket Races when his horse Rock of Gibraltar won the 2,000 Guineas, but that didn’t make any difference. And I had a flutter on it too.
Perhaps Jason holds the key to this mystery, he was listed as a director of Malindi Consultancy, of which I know nothing about. This is what wiki says about the two of them:
“Ferguson has refused post-match interviews with the BBC since May 2004 after a documentary, Fergie & Son, was aired showing dealings between him and his agent son Jason.”
Regarding the film, there is little I can add on this subject as it has been thoroughly aired here before. What I found most compelling was the impact of climate change on the world’s population, the climate refugees, such as Darfur, and we all know how terribly they have suffered there.
He also cited the success of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by cutting back on CFCs. It proves how effective mankind can be in solving catastrophic environmental disasters. As a result, the Montreal Protocol has been called “the most successful international environmental agreement to date.”
Al is an extremely accomplished and convincing presenter and makes an excellent case using great photography and scientific data. You cannot doubt his sincerity and commitment to tackling climate change and spreading the message globally.
He is spending the next two days running Climate Project training programmes in Cambridge and will repeat his presentation again this evening for the public which I had been planning to see with Vicky Ford, but as I have already watched it, I passed my ticket on to Michelle Tempest as tickets are like gold dust, they could have sold dozens of times over.