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Thanks to all of those of you who have visited over the past year or more - why not leave a comment on any of the items in my FOUR blogs - to access the others go through my full profile to see them all.

The New Leadership

I have to say I'm immensely pleased that Harriet Harman is to be the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party - my votes obviously made the difference!

On the other hand it now seems very unlikely that she will be Deputy Prime Minister - a job made unique and filled uniquely by John Prescott, who will also stand down on Wednesday. I think Harriet will be the real link to the Labour Party and will help Gordon Brown to get the kind of support from activists that might just about win Labour another term of office. Harriet's campaign was interesting - supporting the achievements of Blair government but admitting the failures - especially over Iraq. She might just about have convinced the hardcore Labour membership that things will get even better over the next couple of years - and without these people to pound the streets to get the vote out then we will end up with a Conservative government.

Gordon Brown needs to do one or two dramatic things in the next month - rather like the liberation of the Bank of England, to quickly stamp his individual mark on the country's consciousness.

Royal Festival Hall

Maybe it isn't great architecture, but there is something wonderful about the Royal Festival Hall. Opened on 3rd June 1951 it is almost exactly my age, and I've been to see many events within these so typically 1950s walls.

It is has just re-opened after a £90 million refit - and so much of the original has been retained, I'm pleased to say. This is really quite a homey building for one so large - and now the neighbouring 1960s/1970s brutalist buildings that surround it almost blend in.

Set beside the Thames it boasts some of the loveliest views of London, and at this time of the year it is a view that rivals any in the world.

Big Brother

There really is something badly wrong with Channel 4 television. Not only do they continue with the appalling Big Brother for most of the day, they propose to show an unsavoury programme about the death of Princess Diana including insensitive pictures in the tunnel where she died. This is 'in the public interest' we're told - but not according to her sons.

How about boycotting this channel - and telling them that you've given up watching anything they produce?

The Rose Tattoo - Tennessee Williams

I went to see the play at the National Theatre. It has a vast cast but the star is Zoe Wanamaker. The cast numbers 35 and includes a chorus of women, a further chorus of children, and a goat (totally live) comes on twice! The set was excellent too - a revolving wooden cabin used to great effect.
The play is not the usual moody Tennessee Williams. It is a vehicle for a tour de force performance by Ms Wanamake. A story about a Scicilian woman in the deep south of the United States who believes she has the perfect husband and a perfect marriage. Naturally this is not true, as she discovers when her husband is killed in suspicious circumstances. She keeps his urn of ashes in front of a shrine to St Mary. A devout, if not fanatical Catholic she believes in miracles (including the appearance of a tattoo of a rose just like the one her husband used to sport at critical moments). After becoming a widow her grief drives her to bizarre behaviour and she cossets her daughter to prevent her falling into sin.
Really this is a stary of delusion - she refuses to accept her husband's infidelity, that her daughter has grown up, that the rose tattoo did not appear at the moment of her daughter's conception, etc.
Zoe is superb, her accent wonderful, and many of the supporting cast are excellent, but some have trouble with the accent - it veers from sub cockney to godfather Italian, New York Jewish to West Coast Hollywood - sometimes in the same sentence!
This was a theatrical occassion - and probably the performance of Zoe's life - she must be exhausted as she is on stage for almost all of the three hours.
My rating: 9/10

Gant's Hill Tube Station

I had reason to pass through Gant's Hill tube station - on the Central line. This is one of those

beautiful 1930s design London Underground Stations - this one by Charles Holden and the barrel vaulting illustrated here is supposed to be inspired by the Moscow Metro stations. (Although having seen the Moscow stations, this isn't nearly as luxurious). There is something tremendously satisfying about these structures. The architecture makes travelling more of an experience. This particular station has a special history. Begun in 1939 work was abandoned with the outbreak of war. However, when a nearby Ilford Aircraft and Munitions factory was damaged it was decided to use the existing tunnels linking Gant's Hill with neighbouring stations as not only an air raid shelter (like many others) but as a manufacturing centre. A railway was introduced and hundreds of people worked away throughout the bombing burrowed away underground. The line finally opened for passengers in 1953.

Signs of Aging

I was listening to 'Loose Ends' on Radio 4 this evening and I was shocked to hear that Marc Almond (famous for Tainted Love) is going to be 50 shortly. This really bothers me - I will always imagine he is just over 20 - but then I'm always surprised to find out that people are my age - I think I look vastly younger than them. Is this just distortion of thought?

Bank Charges

Now I realise that the banks do not have a good reputation and I'm sure some of the charges they are making to their customers appear both excessive and unfair. However, I do think that

there should be some way to ensure that a small number of customers do not totally ignore the agreement they made when they opened their account. Those who
REGULARLY go either overdrawn or flout their overdraft limit should be penalised. Perhaps a seven day

warning should be issued telling those errant customers what they will be charged if they continue above their limit. Equally if you go overdrawn one day and are unaware of the fact banks should not levy a daily charge making the situation worse. I would not be happy though if banks were unable to make any charges to these rogue customers who ignore limits - and then charging the rest of us 'good customers'.

The Bizarre World of Anthony Steen MP

The Totnes MP was in a hurry to catch a train recently and couldn't find a parking space, so he parked in a bay set aside for blue badge holders. He left his car there for THREE DAYS.

Mr Steen was fined for the illegal use of this facility. He is now complaining that the 'handicapped' are given far too many perks, and there shouldn't be so many spaces left for blue badge holders. As a blue badge holder I am really annoyed by the widespread misuse of the badges and the bays set aside for drivers with disabilities. I quite regularly turn up at a shopping centre or town centre car park to find most or all spaces taken - including the 'disabled' bays - and those occupying these bays often do not display a blue badge. I find walking very hard, and often I see people with wheelchairs unable to go to a blue badge bay because they are occupied by seemingly able bodied drivers without a blue badge. Mr Steen is really not setting a very good example - he clearly doesn't realise how hard it is to obtain a legitimate blue badge.

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