Marilyn & Ella

I saw this two handed musical drama written by Bonnie Greer and starring Nicola Hughes and Wendy Morgan at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. This was my first experience of this venue - and it is a lovely building, and seems to get a very good cross-section of the local population in its audience. The production tells the tale of two famous women. Marilyn Munro was at the height of her fame as a sex symbol - but wanted to be a 'serious actress' and an intellectual (hence her involvement with Arthur Miller). Ella Fitzgerald faced all the problems of racism in entertainment in the 1950s and just wanted to be the best entertainer in America. Much of the time the two actresses in this drama speak parallel monologues examining their concerns and emotions, but in the final section the two meet and argue through their differences. The actress playing Ella had a superb voice and belted out some of her most famous recordings - although this was no parody or pastiche of her style. A very successful production, sensitively and almost movingly performed. Rating 8/10

Counterpoint on Radio 4

I went to a recording (well two rounds to be exact) of the Radio 4 music quiz Counterpoint at the recently renovated Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House. A new series begins to be broadcast from 24th March. This quiz was associated for many years with the late Ned Sherrin, and will now be chaired by Paul Gambaccini, who has a very different style. I thought Ned would be irreplacable by Paul has taken the quiz in a different, perhaps lighter direction. I don't mean the quality of the questions have been diluted or the music is less serious, but his handling of the contestants is gentler, and gives them the space to think and makes the quiz somehow more tense, and enjoyable. Mr Gambaccini is also a writer of great sensitivity, and many years ago his book Love Letters, struck a great chord with me. I hope the audiences for Counterpoint will grow and grow.

Swan Lake

A performance by the Moscow City Ballet at the Hackney Empire. Now I like my Swan Lake very traditional, and Russian ballet companies can be relied upon to do traditional with a very big 'T'. This was extremely enjoyable, the swans and cygnets were elegant and delicate, the leading ballerina was magnificent, the male dancers were suitably dashing and made almost superhuman leaps, and carried their female dancers almost effortlessly. The female corps de ballet were extremely well choreographed - especially as the stage of the Hackney Empire isn't vast. Some of the male dancers seemed to lack finesse. The one disappointment was the lack of an orchestra. The music was pre-recorded and sometimes there were problems with the volume, and thisw affected the emotion and atmosphere of the piece. I expect it is a question of cost. Rating (because of the lack of live musicians) 7/10

Fairtrade & Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle announced today that all their retail sugar would be 'fairtrade' from the very near future & they hoped to convert all their wholsale sugar in the not too distant future. There is some debate about how significant the Fairtrade movement is, does all the premium price get transferred to the farmers in developing countries for example? However, I'd prefer to buy fairtrade bananas than having to buy those produced in Latin America on plantations subsidised by the American government or Colombian drug barons to launder money. The sugar produced by Tate & Lyle in Belize must be better than either the sugar from the European beet mountain, or sugar from the United States subsidised by the Federal Government. One question: why do I find it so hard to buy fairtrade bananas in my local Tesco's? Get buying more fairtrade supplies please Tesco's!

Mark Rimmer - OBE

I've just learned that a former colleague of mine, Mark Rimmer, has been awarded an OBE. This is a great achievement for someone who has worked tirelessly in an unsung and often overlooked service - registration of births, deaths and marriages. Mark's greatest recent success has been in the promotion and expansion of citizenship ceremonies, one of David Blunkett's ideas. Mark has always spoken up for the Registration Service, and highlighted many of the problems the service has faced in trying to deliver a personal service to the public in times of great emotion. The profile of registration has been greatly enhanced in recent years, and it is Mark's hard work that has contributed greatly to that improvement.

My Sunday morning routine not improved....

Now I usually have a Sunday morning routine - it involves a lot of medication, but it also involves the radio. This morning I woke up really early and stumbled across a fascinating item

on the World Service at 4.30 am. It was a tour of Stephen Timms MP's constituency - East Ham. This also happens to be where I live, and this was a gem of a programme. Stephen Timms is a committed Christian, and doesn't hide it. Most of his constituents aren't. A large number are Muslims, there is a big Sikh community, and there is allegedly the largest Temple outside Southern India for Hindus. A very deprived area these faiths offer comfort to the community that governmental agencies don't. There has been a tradition of Christian missions to the East End, and these missions are now continued by a variety of evangelical groups, often (but not entirely) of African or Black origins.

Anyway, back to Sundays. I enjoy the Sunday programme at 7 am, then A Point of View, just before 9 am and then Broadcasting House. At 10 am I move to Radio 2 and listen to Steve Wright's Love Songs. At 11 am I come to a problem. Before Christmas Michael Parkinson retired and was succeeded brilliantly by Clive Anderson in the Sunday Supplement slot. To my disappointment Eamonn Holmes has turned up - and he is really dire. The papers review spent a lot of time on sport - yawn yawn. Lets talk politics, current affairs and world affairs with some weight - like Parkinson and Anderson always did. Holmes doesn't seem to have any kind of intelligence. His questions and comments are banal or just silly. I think I need to change my Sunday routine.