Ken takes a lead

With just over three months to go to the Mayor of London election a recent ITV/You Gov Poll has given Ken Livingstone a 4 point lead. This may come as a great surprise to many outside London but those of us who live in London have come to love this strange and slightly eccentric man. I personally embrace the congestion charge, I'm very impressed by the dramatic improvements to public transport - although
perhaps the buses are victims of the incredible success - usage has so dramatically increased that most are now overcrowded. They are so cheap - and the introduction of the Oyster Card
makes it so easy to travel by bus and train. I also applaud Ken's campaign to bring the Olympics

to London in 2012 - it is already transforming East London, and inspiring the young people living here. As a colleague of mine remarked 'Ken stands up for London, I'll vote Conservative in any other election - but Ken will get my vote'. God help us all if Boris gets elected - all the improvements will be thrown away.

A trip to Smith Square

I had to attend a meeting at the former Transport House in Smith Square and as I drifted back towards the tube station I worked my way through the gardens by the Thames leading towards the gothic pile that is the Houses of Parliament. I was surprised to see the Buxton Memorial (erected to commemorate the part played by one of the campaigners for the abolition of slavery). It is now looking very sprightly in this year marking the two centuries since the passing of the Act. Further along is Rodin's sculpture of the burghers of Calais - a truly remarkable piece, and how wonderful to see it sitting in a public park where can be enjoyed (or ignored) by thousands of tourists. Then under the huge prescence of the grand Victoria Tower above the sovereign's entrance, in a little nook of its own is a memrial to Emmeline Pankhurst. Now I have a connection with Mrs P and her redoubtable daughters, because I was for a while a Superintendent Registrar in Manchester, and the Suffragette Leader was for a number of years a Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the Chorlton on Medlock sub district. She worked out of her home in Nelson Street (near to the birth place of David Lloyd George). Her daughters were her deputies. So I have issued many certificates from registers bearing their signatures.

Further along my way to the tube station there are two further statues of note: Richard Coeur de Lion and Oliver Cromwell. I can't say the statue of George V on the opposite side of the road is noteworthy though. If I had been feeling better I would have sought out Nelson Mandella. One of those wonderful things about London is finding works of art to look at.

Mandela Statue

The statue of Nelson Mandela will finally be unveiled on 29th August. There was a great deal of controvery about where this sculpture would be placed. Ken Livingstone (and me too I have to admit) wanted it in Trafalgar Square. The most appropriate place would have been outside South Africa House. Westminster Council disagreed - and they had the final veto. So, it will now be placed in Parliament Square - close to that of another South African leader, Jan Smuts. I suppose there is a logic to this siting and Nelson Mandela will be present at the unveiling.
By the way this is my 240th posting.

Vicky Malin

I'm posting this article from today's 'Guardian'. It is about the stepdaughter of a friend of mine. If you're in London on Saturday - go see the entertainment!!!
A good head for heights
When Vicky Malin decided she wanted to be an acrobat, nothing got in her way - not even her cerebral palsy. Julie Bindel meets her Monday August 27, 2007The Guardian
Vicky Malin's speciality is aerial acrobatics. She begins on a mat and, using a body harness suspended from the ceiling, she emerges cocoon-like into the air, portraying the emotions of being born and "flying" into life, the joys of discovering the world. Her ambition is to be a fully fledged trapeze artist, and she is determined to let nothing stop her - including the fact that she has cerebral palsy.
On Saturday, Malin, 23, will perform in Trafalgar Square as part of Liberty, London's disability rights festival, which gives a platform to artists and entertainers who are often vulnerable to discrimination and prejudice in the mainstream entertainment world. The emphasis is on a high standard of performance. "With my act, people might see things they have never seen before," says Malin. "I want to really test my skills."


Article continues
On stage with Albert & Friends Instant Circus (A&F), Malin will be working alongside people taking part in activities such as unicycling, tightrope walking, juggling, hula-hoop and diabolo (a juggling prop consisting of a spool that is whirled and tossed on a string tied to two sticks, one held in each hand).
Malin's speciality is doing acrobatics with a rope, which supports her. "It's a wonderful feeling," she says. "My mum says to me, 'I always knew you would end up doing something like this,' because when she took me to see Peter Pan as a child, I told her I wanted to fly."
Born in West Sussex, Malin attended an inclusive school, and was encouraged from an early age to join the drama and musical productions. "I was really lucky. I had teachers who pushed me to explore my creativity. For them, my disability was not, nor should have been, an obstacle."
On leaving university, Malin became a learning support assistant in schools before going to Thailand to volunteer in an orphanage. It was there, while working with a nine-year-old girl who also had cerebral palsy, that she realised she was not fulfilling her potential. "I noticed that people were seriously underestimating her abilities, so I began to work with her more intensively, helping her become more mobile, and realised that I had been underestimating my potential, too." While in Thailand, Malin found out about a course in dance for disabled people, run by the CandoCo company, some of whose dancers are disabled. "It was then that I admitted to myself that I really wanted to do dance and performance, and thought, why not?"
Malin decided to pursue the performing arts as a career. She learned to play the guitar to strengthen her arms, and joined a gym. "It was very hard work; I had to achieve peak physical fitness to develop the right-hand side of my body, since my cerebral palsy only affects that side."
As well as performing, Malin is involved in drama, dance and music workshops with children and young adults, and is now planning to learn trapeze. Does she identify herself as a disabled artist? "Yes, but I am far more than that. First and foremost, I want to entertain people with my performance, whether they are disabled or able-bodied."
When she connected with Albert & Friends - a dance group that teaches performance art to young people, no matter what their circumstances or the limits of their physical abilities - Malin learned a whole new set of skills. "The companies I work with focus on what performers can do, rather than what they can't," she says, and the results can be surprising: last year, 55 members of Albert & Friends achieved a Guinness Book of World Records attempt for the most people on stilts in an egg-and-spoon race.
When we met, Malin had just returned from Edinburgh, where Albert & Friends was well received. What did she see at the festival? "I was tempted to go and see the Crippendales," she laughs, referring to the group of toned, young male strippers with various disabilities. Does she ever worry about disabled artists feeding into able-bodied people's prejudices? "Some might assume their act is a bit of a freak show, but I think it can be just good fun."
Any self-consciousness Malin may have had in the past as a result of attitudes to her disability has disappeared, and the Liberty festival is a landmark event for her - one she's very much looking forward to. "This is an unbelievable platform to show off my work," she says. "People will actually be stopping and watching me perform. That is exactly what I want from my work - to entertain."
What ambition does Malin have for the future? Would she like to be talent-spotted at the festival? "Oh yes," she says, without hesitation. "I would love to be up there on a tightrope, and learn juggling. I don't mean to scare my mum, but I can't wait"
· Liberty: London's Disability Rights Festival takes place in Trafalgar Square on Saturday from 1-6pm. No admission charge. Details: london.gov.uk

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.

St Paul's Covent Garden

A friend of mine had a nine hour stopover at Heathrow en route between Manchester and Hong Kong on Tuesday. I suggested

we met at Covent Garden, to take up some of the time. After a pleasant lunch we drifted around the piazza and came across a
a real gem of a Church - St Paul's, which is known as the actors Church. The face turned to the square is plain, classical and understated, but the reverse face overlooks a lovely garden with

many seats. We wandered into the church and discovered an array of plaques to many actors, theatre producers, dancers, directors and playwrights. Richard Beckinsale, Flora Robson, Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Edith Evans, are all commemorated. The interior of the Church is restful and plain, very Georgian. In many ways the fact that it is so plain makes this Church very moving, and there close by the door is a plaque marking the life of Vivien Leigh. How appropriate is the epitaph upon it - taken from the play Anthony and Cleopatra:

'So fare thee well,

Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies

A lass unparall'd.'