Off thread - are any of the Glaswegian contingent around ( @Theuniondivvie@Fairliered )? The week after next, the family and I are off to the Trossachs for a few days (me, wife, girls of 15/14/10). My vague plan is to head up via Glasgow, stopping for lunch somewhere agreeable in Hillhead/Kenvingrove type area, followed by a quick mooch around for an hour or two - then a big shop at Tesco for supplies for the week and on to the Trossachs - then on the way back, get a hotel for the night and spend 24 hours in Glasgow. If you were to try to impress a set of fairly upbeat teenage girls with Glasgow, what would you show them? (Daughter #1 has already put in a request for a quick mooch around the university just to see if she like the feel of the place). I'm in two minds whether to look for somewhere city centre or west end to stay.
I’d suggest the west end would be more chilled out for a family visit with lots of places within walking distance - Kelvingrove Park & museum, university, restaurants etc. Even a Waitrose to do your big shop! Lots of eateries in Finnieston (regularly voted one of the coolest neighbourhoods in UK) just along from Kelvingrove including Mother India as suggested by Malc, it also has the Hidden Lane for funky hipness and craft stuff.
Thanks uniondivvie - it's a good 10 years since I've been to Glasgow, but you're confirming my gut feeling. We'll stop in the West End for lunch and a mooch on the way up, and I'll look for somewhere in the West End to stay overnight on the way back, calling into the city centre during the day. Kelvingrove, tall ship, Willow Tea Rooms. Wish we had longer now!
The last time I was in Glasgow was to record an episode of the quiz show "Eggheads".
Finnieston isn't what it was sadly. Mother India is also, very sadly, not what it was back in the day. I'd be tempted to head down towards Shawlands these days. Maybe try Ranjits up more to Govanhill for some home-style Indian food. There's also 'Made From Grapes' at the edge of Pollokshields for a really interesting selection of wines (and often nice salami from East Coast Cured).
You've got The Burrell Collection (only recently re-opened) down that direction to have a wander if the weather is rubbish.
There's https://www.koelschipyard.beer/ as a decent pub and https://www.belljarglasgow.com/menu if you want some slightly fancy pub food (the Bell Jar is an ex-Irish Catholic pub - right across the road from where one of the Brighton Bombers was arrested - to bring a little PB into things...).
There's also a Sri-Lankan sandwich place along the road which I still haven't tried. And there's a Transylvanian deli that has quite a few interesting cured meats, and other treats.
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
I can beat all those hands down. George Best in Xenon nightclub on Piccadilly Circus in 1985/6. I think he had shares in it and bar staff were quite protective of him as he sat at the bar alone. I got an "alright George" in, and he raised his whiskey glass and nodded. Silent poetry.
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Ha, I shall circumvent your petty rule by noting that I spent time in a room alone with The Queen, and NO WORDS WERE EXCHANGED!
She was curious who I was and why I was in her house, and I couldn't remember the appropriate formal greeting so she turned around and walked away
You are Michael Fagan and I claim my £5.......
I've done heroin with Michael Fagan
I WIN THE INTERNETZ
RSS lectures have orange juice and biscuits. And a selection of still and sparkling waters. And occasionally mints.
Are they very more-ish, though?
Can't tell, unfortunately: RSS has moved from Errol Street and my teeth are basically shrapnel (see prev emails), so pleasing round white mints are a distant memory of happier times (stitch that, Proust).
I may have mentioned this before, but quite a close friend of mine used to go to Narcotics Anonymous Meetings in Highgate with the guy who played the Colonel in "It Ain't Half Hot Mum"
Which is pretty incredible in itself, but at the same meeting was the guy who played the bass in the regular band on the Kids' show Rainbow, the one with Bungle and Zippy
Yep. True story. All in the same room
I hate to cast doubt on your close friend but Donald Hewlett lived in Whitstable, near where I grew up (I lived off the A290 halfway to Canterbury) and his daughter was at Kings. I have reason to doubt he went to NA in Highgate…
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
I can beat all those hands down. George Best in Xenon nightclub on Piccadilly Circus in 1985/6. I think he had shares in it and bar staff were quite protective of him as he sat at the bar alone. I got an "alright George" in, and he raised his whiskey glass and nodded. Silent poetry.
Nah, I met George Best a couple of times. Anyone who drank in Chelsea in the 80s met George Best. You just had to go to the Cheney Arms, and there he was. Pissed
Peewee Ellis (Sax player and musical director for James Brown, and possible inventor of funk music. And resident of Frome, Somerset for a few decades before his death)
I may have mentioned this before, but quite a close friend of mine used to go to Narcotics Anonymous Meetings in Highgate with the guy who played the Colonel in "It Ain't Half Hot Mum"
Which is pretty incredible in itself, but at the same meeting was the guy who played the bass in the regular band on the Kids' show Rainbow, the one with Bungle and Zippy
Yep. True story. All in the same room
I hate to cast doubt on your close friend but Donald Hewlett lived in Whitstable, near where I grew up (I lived off the A290 halfway to Canterbury) and his daughter was at Kings. I have reason to doubt he went to NA in Highgate…
Matthew Perry used to go to the NA/AA meeting at the church at the end of my road. I always say to friends who are coming to LA, if you want to meet celebrities go to an AA meeting in WeHo or Malibu or Santa Monica.
Getting an Adrian Chiles vibe from the Thomas guy lately.
Indeed. I guess you gotta make a buck, so you end up writing ludicrous stuff like this:
"It wasn’t just Daddy and Haystacks. Such was the scale and success of British TV wrestling in its heyday, many others achieved an unlikely fame, from Rollerball Rocco to Mick McManus to Drew McDonald. And then there was Kendo Nagasaki, the warrior spirit-demon.
"In case you haven’t guessed from his name – combining a famous Japanese martial art with the name of a Japanese city famously wiped out by an atom bomb – Kendo Nagasaki purported to be from Japan. He also went permanently masked, inside the ring and out, and he never spoke directly to interviewers, preferring to observe the world from behind his kabuki-like mask, with the silently impassive eyes of the implacable samurai. Never revealing that his real identity was in fact Peter Thornley, and he came from Stoke."
Peewee Ellis (Sax player and musical director for James Brown, and possible inventor of funk music. And resident of Frome, Somerset for a few decades before his death)
Getting an Adrian Chiles vibe from the Thomas guy lately.
Indeed. I guess you gotta make a buck, so you end up writing ludicrous stuff like this:
"It wasn’t just Daddy and Haystacks. Such was the scale and success of British TV wrestling in its heyday, many others achieved an unlikely fame, from Rollerball Rocco to Mick McManus to Drew McDonald. And then there was Kendo Nagasaki, the warrior spirit-demon.
"In case you haven’t guessed from his name – combining a famous Japanese martial art with the name of a Japanese city famously wiped out by an atom bomb – Kendo Nagasaki purported to be from Japan. He also went permanently masked, inside the ring and out, and he never spoke directly to interviewers, preferring to observe the world from behind his kabuki-like mask, with the silently impassive eyes of the implacable samurai. Never revealing that his real identity was in fact Peter Thornley, and he came from Stoke."
My nan was mad about Mick McManus.
I seem to recall wrestling was on itv on Saturday around lunchtime in my childhood days.
I may have mentioned this before, but quite a close friend of mine used to go to Narcotics Anonymous Meetings in Highgate with the guy who played the Colonel in "It Ain't Half Hot Mum"
Which is pretty incredible in itself, but at the same meeting was the guy who played the bass in the regular band on the Kids' show Rainbow, the one with Bungle and Zippy
Yep. True story. All in the same room
I hate to cast doubt on your close friend but Donald Hewlett lived in Whitstable, near where I grew up (I lived off the A290 halfway to Canterbury) and his daughter was at Kings. I have reason to doubt he went to NA in Highgate…
This may amaze you, but sometimes people who go to NA meetings don't go to meetings 2 minutes walk away. Indeed they will often seek out meetings a long way away, perhaps in big cities, increasing anonymity, and also increasing their chances of finding like-minded souls (eg if they are in the arts)
Margaret Thatcher had two extramarital affairs, claims new book
Tina Gaudoin claims in The Incidental Feminist that the former prime minister had two affairs: one early in her career as an MP and one with another politician
Discussing her latest work at Cheltenham Literature Festival, which is sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times, the author also claims that Denis Thatcher struck up a surprisingly close friendship with the former model Mandy Rice-Davies, one of the main figures in the Profumo affair, after the Thatchers left Downing Street.
Gaudoin said multiple sources, including the novelist and former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken, told her that Margaret Thatcher was involved with somebody else “very early on in her parliamentary career”, and then “quite possibly” later with Sir Humphrey Atkins, the MP for Spelthorne....
...Sources told the author that Lord Bell, Thatcher’s head of PR, had an “extracurricular friendship” with the leader, and that “one of her favourite things” was Bell putting his hand on her knee “and other stuff” during dinners.
I got recipe tips from Claudio Raineri's wife in Leicester Waitrose. Also sat next to Dearlove at a college dinner once. In fact, Bob Ayling was on the other side of me that night. So, minor minor slebs all round.
Getting an Adrian Chiles vibe from the Thomas guy lately.
Indeed. I guess you gotta make a buck, so you end up writing ludicrous stuff like this:
"It wasn’t just Daddy and Haystacks. Such was the scale and success of British TV wrestling in its heyday, many others achieved an unlikely fame, from Rollerball Rocco to Mick McManus to Drew McDonald. And then there was Kendo Nagasaki, the warrior spirit-demon.
"In case you haven’t guessed from his name – combining a famous Japanese martial art with the name of a Japanese city famously wiped out by an atom bomb – Kendo Nagasaki purported to be from Japan. He also went permanently masked, inside the ring and out, and he never spoke directly to interviewers, preferring to observe the world from behind his kabuki-like mask, with the silently impassive eyes of the implacable samurai. Never revealing that his real identity was in fact Peter Thornley, and he came from Stoke."
Now you mention it - I met both Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks in Blackpool back in the early 80s (possibly late 70s, god help me). Both quite charming.
I may have mentioned this before, but quite a close friend of mine used to go to Narcotics Anonymous Meetings in Highgate with the guy who played the Colonel in "It Ain't Half Hot Mum"
Which is pretty incredible in itself, but at the same meeting was the guy who played the bass in the regular band on the Kids' show Rainbow, the one with Bungle and Zippy
Yep. True story. All in the same room
I hate to cast doubt on your close friend but Donald Hewlett lived in Whitstable, near where I grew up (I lived off the A290 halfway to Canterbury) and his daughter was at Kings. I have reason to doubt he went to NA in Highgate…
Matthew Perry used to go to the NA/AA meeting at the church at the end of my road. I always say to friends who are coming to LA, if you want to meet celebrities go to an AA meeting in WeHo or Malibu or Santa Monica.
It's true in posh parts of London as well. I've met some MAJOR celebs in London NA meetings. The one in the Boltons is notorious for it (names that would surprise you)
However these people are still alive, so I shan't break the NA rule
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
I can beat all those hands down. George Best in Xenon nightclub on Piccadilly Circus in 1985/6. I think he had shares in it and bar staff were quite protective of him as he sat at the bar alone. I got an "alright George" in, and he raised his whiskey glass and nodded. Silent poetry.
Nah, I met George Best a couple of times. Anyone who drank in Chelsea in the 80s met George Best. You just had to go to the Cheney Arms, and there he was. Pissed
RIP
At the Goat in Boots in Fulham I saw Pogo Patterson, the lucky tw*t from Grange Hill who was sh****** Paula Ann Bland.
I also got chatting to John Bindon in the Goat in Boots. You are going to tell me Bindon was a mate of yours aren't you?
Talking of crims. I met Marc Rich and Pinkie Green a few times at their offices in Wigmore Street.
Harold Wilson at the Offices of Cerebral Palsy Overseas at 34 Queen Anne Street.
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
I've met, inter alia, David Cameron, Angelina Jolie, Jürgen Klopp, I stayed at the same hotel as the same time as Rupert Murdoch.
My father met Prince Phillip.
I think Jagger beats all those. Soz
IIRC we did this same test a few years ago, and in the end we disallowed royalty and politicians, as their job is to go out and talk to people meaninglessly, so they're kind of a cheat
Angelina Jolie is good, tho. As beautiful in real life?
My wife has met everybody famous, for certain reasons which I do not wish to share with PB.
She has seen Angelina Jolie naked, and reported that she was indeed the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen.
I may have mentioned this before, but quite a close friend of mine used to go to Narcotics Anonymous Meetings in Highgate with the guy who played the Colonel in "It Ain't Half Hot Mum"
Which is pretty incredible in itself, but at the same meeting was the guy who played the bass in the regular band on the Kids' show Rainbow, the one with Bungle and Zippy
Yep. True story. All in the same room
I hate to cast doubt on your close friend but Donald Hewlett lived in Whitstable, near where I grew up (I lived off the A290 halfway to Canterbury) and his daughter was at Kings. I have reason to doubt he went to NA in Highgate…
This may amaze you, but sometimes people who go to NA meetings don't go to meetings 2 minutes walk away. Indeed they will often seek out meetings a long way away, perhaps in big cities, increasing anonymity, and also increasing their chances of finding like-minded souls (eg if they are in the arts)
I leave it you to work out the logic
It wasn’t the geography (they also had a house in London) I was referring to.
Margaret Thatcher had two extramarital affairs, claims new book
Tina Gaudoin claims in The Incidental Feminist that the former prime minister had two affairs: one early in her career as an MP and one with another politician
Discussing her latest work at Cheltenham Literature Festival, which is sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times, the author also claims that Denis Thatcher struck up a surprisingly close friendship with the former model Mandy Rice-Davies, one of the main figures in the Profumo affair, after the Thatchers left Downing Street.
Gaudoin said multiple sources, including the novelist and former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken, told her that Margaret Thatcher was involved with somebody else “very early on in her parliamentary career”, and then “quite possibly” later with Sir Humphrey Atkins, the MP for Spelthorne....
...Sources told the author that Lord Bell, Thatcher’s head of PR, had an “extracurricular friendship” with the leader, and that “one of her favourite things” was Bell putting his hand on her knee “and other stuff” during dinners.
Peewee Ellis (Sax player and musical director for James Brown, and possible inventor of funk music. And resident of Frome, Somerset for a few decades before his death)
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
Bill Clinton
I have stayed in the hotel room Bill Clinton has slept in.
The most shocking thing about that post is the grammatical ambiguity typical of the Cambridge educated.
About 20 years apart.
Bill Clinton stayed at The Imperial Hotel in Blackpool and the hotel helpfully put a picture of Bill Clinton in the room, which turned out to be a bit of a passion killer that weekend.
Margaret Thatcher had two extramarital affairs, claims new book
Tina Gaudoin claims in The Incidental Feminist that the former prime minister had two affairs: one early in her career as an MP and one with another politician
Discussing her latest work at Cheltenham Literature Festival, which is sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times, the author also claims that Denis Thatcher struck up a surprisingly close friendship with the former model Mandy Rice-Davies, one of the main figures in the Profumo affair, after the Thatchers left Downing Street.
Gaudoin said multiple sources, including the novelist and former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken, told her that Margaret Thatcher was involved with somebody else “very early on in her parliamentary career”, and then “quite possibly” later with Sir Humphrey Atkins, the MP for Spelthorne....
...Sources told the author that Lord Bell, Thatcher’s head of PR, had an “extracurricular friendship” with the leader, and that “one of her favourite things” was Bell putting his hand on her knee “and other stuff” during dinners.
This does not immediately strike me as true. Is it just gossip or more substantial?
Lord Moore, who wrote the authorised biography of Thatcher, said: “I have heard the Atkins rumour in the past, but there is no evidence that I have ever seen to support it.”
He added: “My own sense is that it is vanishingly unlikely. I have never before heard the Tim Bell rumour. Again, I think it vanishingly unlikely.”
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve just got on my train! (This is exciting stuff for an economist working in financial markets).
I'm impressed you know him/her by sight. Even if you do work in financial markets.
Jay Powell is like the Taylor Swift of my professional world.
It's good, it's more than good, but the PB ultimate is to run into ... PROFESSOR JOHN CURTICE !!!
Palpitations wouldn't cover it.
Um, I have done that. I've been in the same conferences/audience three times and I have spoken to him once. True fact, dat.
Wow. So that's 2 PBers then, you and CR. I hope there aren't many more otherwise he's going to lose his mystique.
One rubs shoulders with quite a few celebs at the Edinburgh Festival(s), one of whom for me was JC at the book festival ( a presentation by Steve Jones, biologist). But top of my list is being seated next to Isaiah Berlin at the Usher Hall
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
David Cameron, Alan Ball, Lester Piggott, Frankie Dettori (before he was famous)
John Cleese, Jenson Button, Bobby Charlton, Bill Bailey, Laurie Macmenemy, Prince Edward, Marcus Trescothick, Charles Clarke at a urinal, Ted Heath while I was working at the bar, Gary Mabbutt, Alice Robert’s (losing her looks and not as nice in person as you’d imagine), and a load more I’ve forgotten.
NEW: A proposal for rebuilding Gaza that's been shared with the Trump admin references Tesla, IKEA, TSMC, and tons of other companies. I reached out to them—none had discussed or agreed to any work in Gaza. Some had no idea they were mentioned in this proposal:
Getting an Adrian Chiles vibe from the Thomas guy lately.
Indeed. I guess you gotta make a buck, so you end up writing ludicrous stuff like this:
"It wasn’t just Daddy and Haystacks. Such was the scale and success of British TV wrestling in its heyday, many others achieved an unlikely fame, from Rollerball Rocco to Mick McManus to Drew McDonald. And then there was Kendo Nagasaki, the warrior spirit-demon.
"In case you haven’t guessed from his name – combining a famous Japanese martial art with the name of a Japanese city famously wiped out by an atom bomb – Kendo Nagasaki purported to be from Japan. He also went permanently masked, inside the ring and out, and he never spoke directly to interviewers, preferring to observe the world from behind his kabuki-like mask, with the silently impassive eyes of the implacable samurai. Never revealing that his real identity was in fact Peter Thornley, and he came from Stoke."
When my son was a preteen he was very into WWE. As a birthday treat I took him to see them in Glasgow, live. Sadly, it completely killed it for him because what looked dramatic on TV looked patently and obviously fake IRL. He lost all interest. I wonder what the UK equivalent was like in their day. Was it any more "real"?
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
When I was around 15 I had a couple of pints with Alex Ferguson when he was at the peak of his powers. Jolly nice chap he was too even though I hated his team with every ounce of my being. Not as famous perhaps but I also had a very boozy night out with Hoddle in Asia a few years ago.
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
David Cameron, Alan Ball, Lester Piggott, Frankie Dettori (before he was famous)
John Cleese, Jenson Button, Bobby Charlton, Bill Bailey, Laurie Macmenemy, Prince Edward, Marcus Trescothick, Charles Clarke at a urinal, Ted Heath while I was working at the bar, Gary Mabbutt, Alice Robert’s (losing her looks and not as nice in person as you’d imagine), and a load more I’ve forgotten.
I met Lawrie McMenemy just before he published his autobiography
I gave him the best title, which he loved, just too late - Articulated Lawrie
OK who is THE most famous person PBers have spoken with? ie exchanged words with?
I guess anyone who spoke to the late Queen (I didn't) wins this, so royalty is disallowed, because a series of answers saying The Queen will be boring
Mine is probably Mick Jagger, then Arnold Schwarzeneggar
Then Keanu Reeves, maybe. Cameron Diaz once passed me a beer at a party
David Cameron, Alan Ball, Lester Piggott, Frankie Dettori (before he was famous)
John Cleese, Jenson Button, Bobby Charlton, Bill Bailey, Laurie Macmenemy, Prince Edward, Marcus Trescothick, Charles Clarke at a urinal, Ted Heath while I was working at the bar, Gary Mabbutt, Alice Robert’s (losing her looks and not as nice in person as you’d imagine), and a load more I’ve forgotten.
I met Lawrie McMenemy just before he published his autobiography
I gave him the best title, which he loved, just too late - Articulated Lawrie
Have you considered contacting Laurie Sanchez? Or Paul Laurie? Sadly too late for John Laurie (were doomed).
Margaret Thatcher had two extramarital affairs, claims new book
Tina Gaudoin claims in The Incidental Feminist that the former prime minister had two affairs: one early in her career as an MP and one with another politician
Discussing her latest work at Cheltenham Literature Festival, which is sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times, the author also claims that Denis Thatcher struck up a surprisingly close friendship with the former model Mandy Rice-Davies, one of the main figures in the Profumo affair, after the Thatchers left Downing Street.
Gaudoin said multiple sources, including the novelist and former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken, told her that Margaret Thatcher was involved with somebody else “very early on in her parliamentary career”, and then “quite possibly” later with Sir Humphrey Atkins, the MP for Spelthorne....
...Sources told the author that Lord Bell, Thatcher’s head of PR, had an “extracurricular friendship” with the leader, and that “one of her favourite things” was Bell putting his hand on her knee “and other stuff” during dinners.
This does not immediately strike me as true. Is it just gossip or more substantial?
Lord Moore, who wrote the authorised biography of Thatcher, said: “I have heard the Atkins rumour in the past, but there is no evidence that I have ever seen to support it.”
He added: “My own sense is that it is vanishingly unlikely. I have never before heard the Tim Bell rumour. Again, I think it vanishingly unlikely.”
I didn't have Fatch marked as a serial sh@gger, there again we were discussing the Queen and Porky's horse buying excursions to Kentucky the other day. Every day a school day on PB.
The most impressive celebrity anecdotes are with bad guys. Murderers, gangsters, dictators, that sort of thing.
“I met Osama Bin Laden”, for example.
Extra points if something happened beyond a chat. “Prince Andrew asked me if I knew which club the local sixth form girls went to”, say.
But better still if your encounter was somewhere unexpected, or involved doing something incongruous and ideally utterly mundane.
“I encountered Osama Bin Laden at Lewisham Lanes tenpin bowling, and afterwards we went and got fried chicken and a kebab at Bucketmouth on Lee High Road”
I guy I was at High School with was taking a smoke break from working on the roads in Chicago about two decades back, when a local minor politician slipped out of a meeting and asked him for a light. So he chatted shite with Barack Obama for a few minutes. He has a photo.
I note Yaxley Lennon seems to have been stopped under *checks news report* terrorism legislation. Despite being " no angel" as I think the common description is I don't recall him being considered a terrorist or potential terrorist by the state at any point. Perhaps the officers who stopped him have access to intelligence that he is. Or it might be a misuse of police powers. One or the other I suppose !
Maybe "terrorist" is just another synonym of c***.
Don't want to dox myself,and have been privileged to meet quite a few interesting people along the way. Although a politician, I would probably say Nelson Mandela.
I may have mentioned this before, but quite a close friend of mine used to go to Narcotics Anonymous Meetings in Highgate with the guy who played the Colonel in "It Ain't Half Hot Mum"
Which is pretty incredible in itself, but at the same meeting was the guy who played the bass in the regular band on the Kids' show Rainbow, the one with Bungle and Zippy
Yep. True story. All in the same room
I hate to cast doubt on your close friend but Donald Hewlett lived in Whitstable, near where I grew up (I lived off the A290 halfway to Canterbury) and his daughter was at Kings. I have reason to doubt he went to NA in Highgate…
Matthew Perry used to go to the NA/AA meeting at the church at the end of my road. I always say to friends who are coming to LA, if you want to meet celebrities go to an AA meeting in WeHo or Malibu or Santa Monica.
It's true in posh parts of London as well. I've met some MAJOR celebs in London NA meetings. The one in the Boltons is notorious for it (names that would surprise you)
However these people are still alive, so I shan't break the NA rule
My NA/AA friends are terribly indiscreet. But I shan't break confidences, except to say that on any given weekday, around a third of celebs in LA will be going to a meeting. They'll then spend the next two days getting wasted, before returning to NA/AA again.
The most famous person I've met was Mel Gibson.
He was at Joe & the Juice in LA, with a much younger woman, and I joked to my wife "we better not tell him that it's actually Joe and the Jews, and they're just hiding it." She said I would never have the guts to actually say that to him. So I handed her my absurdly overpriced smoothie, and sidled up to him and said - totally deadpan - "you know, it was originally going to be called Joe and the Jews, but the marketing people didn't think that would work. See ya" And then I walked off.
My wife now refuses to go to the Joe and the Juice. But you know what... I haven't seen Mel Gibson there since, so maybe I did some good in the world.
Off thread - are any of the Glaswegian contingent around ( @Theuniondivvie@Fairliered )? The week after next, the family and I are off to the Trossachs for a few days (me, wife, girls of 15/14/10). My vague plan is to head up via Glasgow, stopping for lunch somewhere agreeable in Hillhead/Kenvingrove type area, followed by a quick mooch around for an hour or two - then a big shop at Tesco for supplies for the week and on to the Trossachs - then on the way back, get a hotel for the night and spend 24 hours in Glasgow. If you were to try to impress a set of fairly upbeat teenage girls with Glasgow, what would you show them? (Daughter #1 has already put in a request for a quick mooch around the university just to see if she like the feel of the place). I'm in two minds whether to look for somewhere city centre or west end to stay.
I’d suggest the west end would be more chilled out for a family visit with lots of places within walking distance - Kelvingrove Park & museum, university, restaurants etc. Even a Waitrose to do your big shop! Lots of eateries in Finnieston (regularly voted one of the coolest neighbourhoods in UK) just along from Kelvingrove including Mother India as suggested by Malc, it also has the Hidden Lane for funky hipness and craft stuff.
Thanks uniondivvie - it's a good 10 years since I've been to Glasgow, but you're confirming my gut feeling. We'll stop in the West End for lunch and a mooch on the way up, and I'll look for somewhere in the West End to stay overnight on the way back, calling into the city centre during the day. Kelvingrove, tall ship, Willow Tea Rooms. Wish we had longer now!
The last time I was in Glasgow was to record an episode of the quiz show "Eggheads".
Did you beat the eggheads, or are you a secret egghead?
I beat my Egghead, but it was only Judith. As a team we did not prevail, though we did creditably, taking the final to a lengthy sudden-death playoff.
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve just got on my train! (This is exciting stuff for an economist working in financial markets).
I'm impressed you know him/her by sight. Even if you do work in financial markets.
Jay Powell is like the Taylor Swift of my professional world.
It's good, it's more than good, but the PB ultimate is to run into ... PROFESSOR JOHN CURTICE !!!
Palpitations wouldn't cover it.
Um, I have done that. I've been in the same conferences/audience three times and I have spoken to him once. True fact, dat.
Wow. So that's 2 PBers then, you and CR. I hope there aren't many more otherwise he's going to lose his mystique.
One rubs shoulders with quite a few celebs at the Edinburgh Festival(s), one of whom for me was JC at the book festival ( a presentation by Steve Jones, biologist). But top of my list is being seated next to Isaiah Berlin at the Usher Hall
I note Yaxley Lennon seems to have been stopped under *checks news report* terrorism legislation. Despite being " no angel" as I think the common description is I don't recall him being considered a terrorist or potential terrorist by the state at any point. Perhaps the officers who stopped him have access to intelligence that he is. Or it might be a misuse of police powers. One or the other I suppose !
Maybe "terrorist" is just another synonym of c***.
He'd better not have expressed sympathy with Palestine Action. That'll be his junket to Tel Aviv kiboshed.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
The most impressive celebrity anecdotes are with bad guys. Murderers, gangsters, dictators, that sort of thing.
“I met Osama Bin Laden”, for example.
Extra points if something happened beyond a chat. “Prince Andrew asked me if I knew which club the local sixth form girls went to”, say.
But better still if your encounter was somewhere unexpected, or involved doing something incongruous and ideally utterly mundane.
“I encountered Osama Bin Laden at Lewisham Lanes tenpin bowling, and afterwards we went and got fried chicken and a kebab at Bucketmouth on Lee High Road”
If I remember correctly Dom Jolly was at high school with Osama Bin Laden.
A family member went to high school with Harold Shipman and were friends. Apparently totally unremarkable/ nothing out of ordinary when he came around for tea a few times.
I also shared a flying instructor with Angelina Jolie at Denham School of Flying. We must have chatted half a dozen times - all aviation related! (Although she did get a bit of a shock when she saw me at the Tomb Raider premier, given I'd never told her what I did for a living.)
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
My sister was at a school parents' meeting chatting amicably with another mother only to be told by someone else later that the other mother was Madonna
I met Alan Shearer when he played for Blackburn in the tunnel before a League Cup game against Swindon at the County Ground
I did my driving test on the Magic Roundabout, right by the County Ground in Swindon
That's how you learn to drive. Makes London easy
Magic roundabout makes perfect sense. There is only one rule - give way to your right. Any route across the five individual roundabouts is allowed. Just give way to your right.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
The most impressive celebrity anecdotes are with bad guys. Murderers, gangsters, dictators, that sort of thing.
“I met Osama Bin Laden”, for example.
Extra points if something happened beyond a chat. “Prince Andrew asked me if I knew which club the local sixth form girls went to”, say.
But better still if your encounter was somewhere unexpected, or involved doing something incongruous and ideally utterly mundane.
“I encountered Osama Bin Laden at Lewisham Lanes tenpin bowling, and afterwards we went and got fried chicken and a kebab at Bucketmouth on Lee High Road”
If I remember correctly Dom Jolly was at high school with Osama Bin Laden.
A family member went to high school with Harold Shipman and were friends. Apparently totally unremarkable/ nothing out of ordinary when he came around for tea a few times.
"HELLO! HELLO! Yes, I'm just with Osama. No. It's a bit rubbish."
And now we know why 9/11 happened.
It was all due to a practical joke from Dom Jolly.
The most impressive celebrity anecdotes are with bad guys. Murderers, gangsters, dictators, that sort of thing.
“I met Osama Bin Laden”, for example.
Extra points if something happened beyond a chat. “Prince Andrew asked me if I knew which club the local sixth form girls went to”, say.
But better still if your encounter was somewhere unexpected, or involved doing something incongruous and ideally utterly mundane.
“I encountered Osama Bin Laden at Lewisham Lanes tenpin bowling, and afterwards we went and got fried chicken and a kebab at Bucketmouth on Lee High Road”
If I remember correctly Dom Jolly was at high school with Osama Bin Laden.
A family member went to high school with Harold Shipman and were friends. Apparently totally unremarkable/ nothing out of ordinary when he came around for tea a few times.
"HELLO! HELLO! Yes, I'm just with Osama. No. It's a bit rubbish."
And now we know why 9/11 happened.
It was all due to a practical joke from Dom Jolly.
It seems like people on public transport these days seem to think Dom Jolly phone character is an instruction on how to answer a phone in public.
My sister was at a school parents' meeting chatting amicably with another mother only to be told by someone else later that the other mother was Madonna
Given how much work she has had done I am not sure I would recognise her.
I met a US senator -- who shortly afterwards died in an airplane accident. A few years later, in a different state, I met another US senator -- who shortly afterwards died in an airplane accident.
I like to think i am not superstitious, but I have to admit that since then I have not sought out meetings with US senators.
(Incidentally, US congressmen and senators die more often in airplance crashes than the general public. Here's a famous, if somewhat dated, example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Boggs )
My sister was at a school parents' meeting chatting amicably with another mother only to be told by someone else later that the other mother was Madonna
Given how much work she has had done I am not sure I would recognise her.
I often see people who I think look a bit like XX and only later realise it probably was XX. Ben Fogle art a cafe on the A82 for instance.
I met Alan Shearer when he played for Blackburn in the tunnel before a League Cup game against Swindon at the County Ground
I did my driving test on the Magic Roundabout, right by the County Ground in Swindon
That's how you learn to drive. Makes London easy
Magic roundabout makes perfect sense. There is only one rule - give way to your right. Any route across the five individual roundabouts is allowed. Just give way to your right.
I love it.
It's brilliant. You can go around it anticlockwise and miss all the traffic
But it can be a terrifying place to learn to drive
I met a US senator -- who shortly afterwards died in an airplane accident. A few years later, in a different state, I met another US senator -- who shortly afterwards died in an airplane accident.
I like to think i am not superstitious, but I have to admit that since then I have not sought out meetings with US senators.
(Incidentally, US congressmen and senators die more often in airplance crashes than the general public. Here's a famous, if somewhat dated, example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Boggs )
Good news!
I've organized you a trip around the US to meet some of our most prominent elected represenatives!
I met a US senator -- who shortly afterwards died in an airplane accident. A few years later, in a different state, I met another US senator -- who shortly afterwards died in an airplane accident.
I like to think i am not superstitious, but I have to admit that since then I have not sought out meetings with US senators.
(Incidentally, US congressmen and senators die more often in airplance crashes than the general public. Here's a famous, if somewhat dated, example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Boggs )
Rule of thumb is that the bigger the plane the safer it is.
Senators end up doing a lot of flying in small regional jets and private planes. They probably have friends in the general aviation community as well, who have a (relatively) terrible accident rate.
My sister was at a school parents' meeting chatting amicably with another mother only to be told by someone else later that the other mother was Madonna
Given how much work she has had done I am not sure I would recognise her.
I often see people who I think look a bit like XX and only later realise it probably was XX. Ben Fogle art a cafe on the A82 for instance.
I once overtook Alan Titchmarsh on the M5. He was driving a Rolls Royce with a personliases registration plate which strongly indicated his keenness on gardening. "I bet that's Alan Titchmarsh," my friend said, not entirely seriously. And we passed him,band it was. He gave us a cheery wave, and looked absolutely delighted with the experience of being Alan Titchmarsh
The most impressive celebrity anecdotes are with bad guys. Murderers, gangsters, dictators, that sort of thing.
“I met Osama Bin Laden”, for example.
Extra points if something happened beyond a chat. “Prince Andrew asked me if I knew which club the local sixth form girls went to”, say.
But better still if your encounter was somewhere unexpected, or involved doing something incongruous and ideally utterly mundane.
“I encountered Osama Bin Laden at Lewisham Lanes tenpin bowling, and afterwards we went and got fried chicken and a kebab at Bucketmouth on Lee High Road”
If I remember correctly Dom Jolly was at high school with Osama Bin Laden.
A family member went to high school with Harold Shipman and were friends. Apparently totally unremarkable/ nothing out of ordinary when he came around for tea a few times.
I am desperately trying to out willy wave Leon.
Try this for size. I met Bin Laden. But it was Salim, the one who killed himself in a Florida plane crash. I found out later he was married to a Western woman ( possibly English) and after Salim crashed his plane his Brother Abdullah married her.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
We have plenty of problems in this country but at least people accept a rising state pension age.
Ssssssssshhh don't summon the WASPIs.
France is in very serious fiscal trouble and yet it is our gilts that have the 'moron' factor.
France is backstopped by the ECB and ultimately Germany. And the Euro Area has lower inflation and hence interest rates. This allows France to be in a worse state than us, fiscally speaking, but enjoy lower bond yields.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
We have plenty of problems in this country but at least people accept a rising state pension age.
Ssssssssshhh don't summon the WASPIs.
France is in very serious fiscal trouble and yet it is our gilts that have the 'moron' factor.
France is backstopped by the ECB and ultimately Germany. And the Euro Area has lower inflation and hence interest rates. This allows France to be in a worse state than us, fiscally speaking, but enjoy lower bond yields.
Yup, markets are pricing in an implicit guarantee that German and Dutch taxpayers will pay the bill if France looks like defaulting.
Margaret Thatcher had two extramarital affairs, claims new book
Tina Gaudoin claims in The Incidental Feminist that the former prime minister had two affairs: one early in her career as an MP and one with another politician
Discussing her latest work at Cheltenham Literature Festival, which is sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times, the author also claims that Denis Thatcher struck up a surprisingly close friendship with the former model Mandy Rice-Davies, one of the main figures in the Profumo affair, after the Thatchers left Downing Street.
Gaudoin said multiple sources, including the novelist and former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken, told her that Margaret Thatcher was involved with somebody else “very early on in her parliamentary career”, and then “quite possibly” later with Sir Humphrey Atkins, the MP for Spelthorne....
...Sources told the author that Lord Bell, Thatcher’s head of PR, had an “extracurricular friendship” with the leader, and that “one of her favourite things” was Bell putting his hand on her knee “and other stuff” during dinners.
Former England football captain now racehorse trainer Mick Channon still sometimes tells the story of when one of his horses sprinted away with me the day before a big race. It got the best Timeform rating of its career that day
Ooh, I've got one: I met the Walton sextuplets - remember them? - in a Little Chef in North Wales in the late 80s.
Which set me wondering to what they are doing now. A brief google suggests that at age 36, three of them had children. Only three? A case study in western demographics. Also, at some point in thair late 30s, four of them were still living in their parents' house in Wallasey, with a fifth due to join them soon and the sixth also living in Wallasey.
I met a US senator -- who shortly afterwards died in an airplane accident. A few years later, in a different state, I met another US senator -- who shortly afterwards died in an airplane accident.
I like to think i am not superstitious, but I have to admit that since then I have not sought out meetings with US senators.
(Incidentally, US congressmen and senators die more often in airplance crashes than the general public. Here's a famous, if somewhat dated, example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Boggs )
Mike Johnson: "I'm proud to tell you that together with my friend Speaker Ohana of the Israeli Knesset, we're gonna embark on a project together to rally speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world so that we will jointly nominate President Donald J Trump for next year's Nobel Peace Prize. No one has ever deserved that prize more, and that is an objective fact."
Not only is it pathetic (do these people have no self-respect?) - they miss a monumental key point. The minute he gets the prize he gives up on any peace seeking whatsoever.
Keep the carrot in front of the donkey.
Please note this very clever observation I am making here! The winners of Nobel Peace Prizes tend to be the warring parties who then agree peace: look at Hume/Trimble 1998, Arafat/Rabin/Peres 1994, Mandela/de Klerk 1993, Sadat/Begin 1978, or Kissinger/Thọ 1973. You might expand that list to include Abiy Ahmed 2019 (where the award was in part for agreeing peace with Eritrea), Kim Dae-jung 2000 (moves towards reconciliation with N Korea), and José Ramos-Horta 1996 (as one side in the East Timor/Indonesia conflict). These prizes have often been controversial (Kissinger and Ahmed, for example), but that's the common pattern. The prize in recent decades doesn't tend to go to third parties who facilitated peace. I can't think of any clear cut cases of a person facilitating a big peace deal and getting the prize. Lester B. Pearson won in 1957 for his involvement in Suez, but that was for organising the UN Emergency Force. You do get figures who were involved in facilitating peace, but they tend to be people with long careers of doing that, often with UN involvement: e.g. Ralph Bunche 1950, Martti Ahtisaari 2008 and maybe Jimmy Carter 2002.
So, this implies to me that it would be more likely for Netanyahu and maybe Khalil al-Hayya to win (presuming the Peace Plan holds and things look good going forward) than for Trump to win. For Trump to win, I think he'd need at least multiple successes: Gaza and Ukraine, or maybe and Iran.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
We have plenty of problems in this country but at least people accept a rising state pension age.
Ssssssssshhh don't summon the WASPIs.
France is in very serious fiscal trouble and yet it is our gilts that have the 'moron' factor.
France is backstopped by the ECB and ultimately Germany. And the Euro Area has lower inflation and hence interest rates. This allows France to be in a worse state than us, fiscally speaking, but enjoy lower bond yields.
Yup, markets are pricing in an implicit guarantee that German and Dutch taxpayers will pay the bill if France looks like defaulting.
It’s not really default risk, it’s inflation and FX expectations.
I also shared a flying instructor with Angelina Jolie at Denham School of Flying. We must have chatted half a dozen times - all aviation related! (Although she did get a bit of a shock when she saw me at the Tomb Raider premier, given I'd never told her what I did for a living.)
Wow, am I the only person on here who is not besties with Angelina Jolie? I am a desperate starfucker and would love to be in with the jet set but outside of politicians who I have met largely through work (6 British PMs - is that a PB record?) it's slim pickings for me I am afraid. I was at school with KT Tunstall. I made Senator John Kerry wait at airport security (he was a humourless dick about it). I was on a train with the head of the Fed today. I once saw Jarvis Cocker at Watford Gap services. I have got selfies with Rick Astley and Steve Coogan. Sad!
Former England football captain now racehorse trainer Mick Channon still sometimes tells the story of when one of his horses sprinted away with me the day before a big race. It got the best Timeform rating of its career that day
Knobbleeneeze, if I spelt it right
I once met Mick Channons parents in the local pub with my parents. His mum asked me if i wanted to pop in and see his cats. She seemed put out when I politely declined. It was only later I realised she’d said caps…
My sister was at a school parents' meeting chatting amicably with another mother only to be told by someone else later that the other mother was Madonna
Given how much work she has had done I am not sure I would recognise her.
I often see people who I think look a bit like XX and only later realise it probably was XX. Ben Fogle art a cafe on the A82 for instance.
A went to visit a uni mate in late 90s and this very attractive (even in sweats) neighbour popped round to give him a package that had been delivered while he was out. Heard him say thanks Natalie, and I jokingly said I bet she gets mistaken a lot for that singer Natalie Imbruglia (who was height of her fame) and even has the same name...mate looked confused...that was Natalie Imbruglia.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
We have plenty of problems in this country but at least people accept a rising state pension age.
Ssssssssshhh don't summon the WASPIs.
France is in very serious fiscal trouble and yet it is our gilts that have the 'moron' factor.
France is backstopped by the ECB and ultimately Germany. And the Euro Area has lower inflation and hence interest rates. This allows France to be in a worse state than us, fiscally speaking, but enjoy lower bond yields.
Yup, markets are pricing in an implicit guarantee that German and Dutch taxpayers will pay the bill if France looks like defaulting.
It’s not really default risk, it’s inflation and FX expectations.
It just means there's a much lower idiot premium than would otherwise be the case.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
We have plenty of problems in this country but at least people accept a rising state pension age.
Ssssssssshhh don't summon the WASPIs.
France is in very serious fiscal trouble and yet it is our gilts that have the 'moron' factor.
As I understand it there are two things which affect gilt yields: future interest rate expectations and default risk. France's future interest rate expectations are due to the ECB. They could also expect an EU bailout in the case of default (bloody big bailout though).
So, to compare our gilt yields and france's, with a view to comparing the health of our economies, you would have to disentangle those two factors. Britons claiming to be able to so disentangle are often biased, because of national politics.
My sister was at a school parents' meeting chatting amicably with another mother only to be told by someone else later that the other mother was Madonna
Given how much work she has had done I am not sure I would recognise her.
I often see people who I think look a bit like XX and only later realise it probably was XX. Ben Fogle art a cafe on the A82 for instance.
A went to visit a uni mate in late 90s and this very attractive (even in sweats) neighbour popped round to give him a package that had been delivered while he was out. Heard him say thanks Natalie, and I jokingly said I bet she gets mistaken a lot for that singer Natalie Imbruglia (who was height of her fame) and even has the same name...mate looked confused...that was Natalie Imbruglia.
My sister was at a school parents' meeting chatting amicably with another mother only to be told by someone else later that the other mother was Madonna
Given how much work she has had done I am not sure I would recognise her.
I often see people who I think look a bit like XX and only later realise it probably was XX. Ben Fogle art a cafe on the A82 for instance.
I once overtook Alan Titchmarsh on the M5. He was driving a Rolls Royce with a personliases registration plate which strongly indicated his keenness on gardening. "I bet that's Alan Titchmarsh," my friend said, not entirely seriously. And we passed him,band it was. He gave us a cheery wave, and looked absolutely delighted with the experience of being Alan Titchmarsh
I seem fated to encounter Damien Lewis every few years. The first time was in the rain outside a service station (he looked very pissed off which might have been the rain or my staring). The second time I held a door open for him as he was going to retrieve his bike (his lycra wear was exciting the receptionist. The third time he sat next to me in the smoking area of a club. I was tempted to say "we must stop meeting like this" but fortunately it occurred to me that he wouldn't have the least idea of who I was.
My sister was at a school parents' meeting chatting amicably with another mother only to be told by someone else later that the other mother was Madonna
Given how much work she has had done I am not sure I would recognise her.
I often see people who I think look a bit like XX and only later realise it probably was XX. Ben Fogle art a cafe on the A82 for instance.
I once overtook Alan Titchmarsh on the M5. He was driving a Rolls Royce with a personliases registration plate which strongly indicated his keenness on gardening. "I bet that's Alan Titchmarsh," my friend said, not entirely seriously. And we passed him,band it was. He gave us a cheery wave, and looked absolutely delighted with the experience of being Alan Titchmarsh
I seem fated to encounter Damien Lewis every few years. The first time was in the rain outside a service station (he looked very pissed off which might have been the rain or my staring). The second time I held a door open for him as he was going to retrieve his bike (his lycra wear was exciting the receptionist. The third time he sat next to me in the smoking area of a club. I was tempted to say "we must stop meeting like this" but fortunately it occurred to me that he wouldn't have the least idea of who I was.
He was a parent at my son's school in London! (And he'd always be surrounded by a gaggle of mums who found him much more interesting than me.)
Former England football captain now racehorse trainer Mick Channon still sometimes tells the story of when one of his horses sprinted away with me the day before a big race. It got the best Timeform rating of its career that day
Knobbleeneeze, if I spelt it right
I once met Mick Channons parents in the local pub with my parents. His mum asked me if i wanted to pop in and see his cats. She seemed put out when I politely declined. It was only later I realised she’d said caps…
I did my sixth form summer work experience shovelling horseshit at Mick's yard in Upper Lambourn, before he moved to Ilsley
I then spent the summer there and rode that horse Knobbleeneeze every day. He only threw me off once
Mike Johnson: "I'm proud to tell you that together with my friend Speaker Ohana of the Israeli Knesset, we're gonna embark on a project together to rally speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world so that we will jointly nominate President Donald J Trump for next year's Nobel Peace Prize. No one has ever deserved that prize more, and that is an objective fact."
Not only is it pathetic (do these people have no self-respect?) - they miss a monumental key point. The minute he gets the prize he gives up on any peace seeking whatsoever.
Keep the carrot in front of the donkey.
Please note this very clever observation I am making here! The winners of Nobel Peace Prizes tend to be the warring parties who then agree peace: look at Hume/Trimble 1998, Arafat/Rabin/Peres 1994, Mandela/de Klerk 1993, Sadat/Begin 1978, or Kissinger/Thọ 1973. You might expand that list to include Abiy Ahmed 2019 (where the award was in part for agreeing peace with Eritrea), Kim Dae-jung 2000 (moves towards reconciliation with N Korea), and José Ramos-Horta 1996 (as one side in the East Timor/Indonesia conflict). These prizes have often been controversial (Kissinger and Ahmed, for example), but that's the common pattern. The prize in recent decades doesn't tend to go to third parties who facilitated peace. I can't think of any clear cut cases of a person facilitating a big peace deal and getting the prize. Lester B. Pearson won in 1957 for his involvement in Suez, but that was for organising the UN Emergency Force. You do get figures who were involved in facilitating peace, but they tend to be people with long careers of doing that, often with UN involvement: e.g. Ralph Bunche 1950, Martti Ahtisaari 2008 and maybe Jimmy Carter 2002.
So, this implies to me that it would be more likely for Netanyahu and maybe Khalil al-Hayya to win (presuming the Peace Plan holds and things look good going forward) than for Trump to win. For Trump to win, I think he'd need at least multiple successes: Gaza and Ukraine, or maybe and Iran.
The Good Friday Agreement is a classic example here. Bill Clinton sent George Mitchell to chair talks. Everyone thinks Mitchell was great. He spent years working on Northern Ireland. But Mitchell and Clinton didn't get the Prize: the key leaders signing the deal, Hume and Trimble, win.
The 1978 peace between Egypt and Israel was facilitated by Jimmy Carter. Carter did much more than Trump has now. But it's Sadat and Begin who get the Prize. Now, Carter did get a Peace Prize himself, but only decades later and the reason given for his award doesn't even explicitly mention the 1978 agreement.
Likewise, Arafat/Rabin/Peres share the Prize for the Oslo process, not the Norwegian politicians who facilitated everything.
Leaving aside that most people in the world hate Trump (and plenty of people hated Kissinger), the logic of the Peace Prize simply doesn't point to Trump getting it. If Trump wants to win, he has to get the US into a war and then agree a peace. Greenland maybe...?
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
We have plenty of problems in this country but at least people accept a rising state pension age.
Ssssssssshhh don't summon the WASPIs.
France is in very serious fiscal trouble and yet it is our gilts that have the 'moron' factor.
As I understand it there are two things which affect gilt yields: future interest rate expectations and default risk. France's future interest rate expectations are due to the ECB. They could also expect an EU bailout in the case of default (bloody big bailout though).
So, to compare our gilt yields and france's, with a view to comparing the health of our economies, you would have to disentangle those two factors. Britons claiming to be able to so disentangle are often biased, because of national politics.
Spot on.
A high growth, lightly indebted economy, could well have higher governmnt bond rates, because there's inflation.
By contrast, a no growth, highly indebted country (we'll call it Japan), could just be paying 1.65%.
It is worth remembering, too, that regulation means that there are a massive number of legally obligated buyers of domestic government debt.
Mike Johnson: "I'm proud to tell you that together with my friend Speaker Ohana of the Israeli Knesset, we're gonna embark on a project together to rally speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world so that we will jointly nominate President Donald J Trump for next year's Nobel Peace Prize. No one has ever deserved that prize more, and that is an objective fact."
Not only is it pathetic (do these people have no self-respect?) - they miss a monumental key point. The minute he gets the prize he gives up on any peace seeking whatsoever.
Keep the carrot in front of the donkey.
Please note this very clever observation I am making here! The winners of Nobel Peace Prizes tend to be the warring parties who then agree peace: look at Hume/Trimble 1998, Arafat/Rabin/Peres 1994, Mandela/de Klerk 1993, Sadat/Begin 1978, or Kissinger/Thọ 1973. You might expand that list to include Abiy Ahmed 2019 (where the award was in part for agreeing peace with Eritrea), Kim Dae-jung 2000 (moves towards reconciliation with N Korea), and José Ramos-Horta 1996 (as one side in the East Timor/Indonesia conflict). These prizes have often been controversial (Kissinger and Ahmed, for example), but that's the common pattern. The prize in recent decades doesn't tend to go to third parties who facilitated peace. I can't think of any clear cut cases of a person facilitating a big peace deal and getting the prize. Lester B. Pearson won in 1957 for his involvement in Suez, but that was for organising the UN Emergency Force. You do get figures who were involved in facilitating peace, but they tend to be people with long careers of doing that, often with UN involvement: e.g. Ralph Bunche 1950, Martti Ahtisaari 2008 and maybe Jimmy Carter 2002.
So, this implies to me that it would be more likely for Netanyahu and maybe Khalil al-Hayya to win (presuming the Peace Plan holds and things look good going forward) than for Trump to win. For Trump to win, I think he'd need at least multiple successes: Gaza and Ukraine, or maybe and Iran.
The Good Friday Agreement is a classic example here. Bill Clinton sent George Mitchell to chair talks. Everyone thinks Mitchell was great. He spent years working on Northern Ireland. But Mitchell and Clinton didn't get the Prize: the key leaders signing the deal, Hume and Trimble, win.
The 1978 peace between Egypt and Israel was facilitated by Jimmy Carter. Carter did much more than Trump has now. But it's Sadat and Begin who get the Prize. Now, Carter did get a Peace Prize himself, but only decades later and the reason given for his award doesn't even explicitly mention the 1978 agreement.
Likewise, Arafat/Rabin/Peres share the Prize for the Oslo process, not the Norwegian politicians who facilitated everything.
Leaving aside that most people in the world hate Trump (and plenty of people hated Kissinger), the logic of the Peace Prize simply doesn't point to Trump getting it. If Trump wants to win, he has to get the US into a war and then agree a peace. Greenland maybe...?
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You've got The Burrell Collection (only recently re-opened) down that direction to have a wander if the weather is rubbish.
There's https://www.koelschipyard.beer/ as a decent pub and https://www.belljarglasgow.com/menu if you want some slightly fancy pub food (the Bell Jar is an ex-Irish Catholic pub - right across the road from where one of the Brighton Bombers was arrested - to bring a little PB into things...).
There's also a Sri-Lankan sandwich place along the road which I still haven't tried. And there's a Transylvanian deli that has quite a few interesting cured meats, and other treats.
RIP
There I sat and chatted with (and bought drinks for) three people who should be famous - their music is
Marlena Shaw
California Soul
Greg Erico (Drummer for Sly And The Family Stone)
Dance To The Music
Peewee Ellis (Sax player and musical director for James Brown, and possible inventor of funk music. And resident of Frome, Somerset for a few decades before his death)
Cold Sweat
"It wasn’t just Daddy and Haystacks. Such was the scale and success of British TV wrestling in its heyday, many others achieved an unlikely fame, from Rollerball Rocco to Mick McManus to Drew McDonald. And then there was Kendo Nagasaki, the warrior spirit-demon.
"In case you haven’t guessed from his name – combining a famous Japanese martial art with the name of a Japanese city famously wiped out by an atom bomb – Kendo Nagasaki purported to be from Japan. He also went permanently masked, inside the ring and out, and he never spoke directly to interviewers, preferring to observe the world from behind his kabuki-like mask, with the silently impassive eyes of the implacable samurai. Never revealing that his real identity was in fact Peter Thornley, and he came from Stoke."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/private-chat-among-young-gop-club-members-00592146
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BSSlWPiKJw
"Kathy Ray · Joe Gideon & The Shark". (The whole album is quite delightful)
I seem to recall wrestling was on itv on Saturday around lunchtime in my childhood days.
I leave it you to work out the logic
Tina Gaudoin claims in The Incidental Feminist that the former prime minister had two affairs: one early in her career as an MP and one with another politician
Discussing her latest work at Cheltenham Literature Festival, which is sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times, the author also claims that Denis Thatcher struck up a surprisingly close friendship with the former model Mandy Rice-Davies, one of the main figures in the Profumo affair, after the Thatchers left Downing Street.
Gaudoin said multiple sources, including the novelist and former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken, told her that Margaret Thatcher was involved with somebody else “very early on in her parliamentary career”, and then “quite possibly” later with Sir Humphrey Atkins, the MP for Spelthorne....
...Sources told the author that Lord Bell, Thatcher’s head of PR, had an “extracurricular friendship” with the leader, and that “one of her favourite things” was Bell putting his hand on her knee “and other stuff” during dinners.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/margaret-thatcher-affair-news-wvb0wlc39
However these people are still alive, so I shan't break the NA rule
I also got chatting to John Bindon in the Goat in Boots. You are going to tell me Bindon was a mate of yours aren't you?
Talking of crims. I met Marc Rich and Pinkie Green a few times at their offices in Wigmore Street.
Harold Wilson at the Offices of Cerebral Palsy Overseas at 34 Queen Anne Street.
I have the picture somewhere.
https://youtu.be/p6wUWEnZzSg
Slow (very slow) starter, but good once it gets going!
Bill Clinton stayed at The Imperial Hotel in Blackpool and the hotel helpfully put a picture of Bill Clinton in the room, which turned out to be a bit of a passion killer that weekend.
My niece got me their cook book for Christmas. The garlic chile chicken is epic, if a bit of a faff to make
He added: “My own sense is that it is vanishingly unlikely. I have never before heard the Tim Bell rumour. Again, I think it vanishingly unlikely.”
This goes down better amongst Buddhists.
And make Tibetans explode with joy.
https://www.moliorlondon.com/media/molior-report-media-2025/10/molior-residential-development-in-london-q3-2025.pdf?v=2
NEW: A proposal for rebuilding Gaza that's been shared with the Trump admin references Tesla, IKEA, TSMC, and tons of other companies. I reached out to them—none had discussed or agreed to any work in Gaza. Some had no idea they were mentioned in this proposal:
https://bsky.app/profile/carolinehaskins.bsky.social/post/3m36llvsw6k2o
I gave him the best title, which he loved, just too late - Articulated Lawrie
“I met Osama Bin Laden”, for example.
Extra points if something happened beyond a chat. “Prince Andrew asked me if I knew which club the local sixth form girls went to”, say.
But better still if your encounter was somewhere unexpected, or involved doing something incongruous and ideally utterly mundane.
“I encountered Osama Bin Laden at Lewisham Lanes tenpin bowling, and afterwards we went and got fried chicken and a kebab at Bucketmouth on Lee High Road”
So he chatted shite with Barack Obama for a few minutes. He has a photo.
The most famous person I've met was Mel Gibson.
He was at Joe & the Juice in LA, with a much younger woman, and I joked to my wife "we better not tell him that it's actually Joe and the Jews, and they're just hiding it." She said I would never have the guts to actually say that to him. So I handed her my absurdly overpriced smoothie, and sidled up to him and said - totally deadpan - "you know, it was originally going to be called Joe and the Jews, but the marketing people didn't think that would work. See ya" And then I walked off.
My wife now refuses to go to the Joe and the Juice. But you know what... I haven't seen Mel Gibson there since, so maybe I did some good in the world.
That's how you learn to drive. Makes London easy
That'll be his junket to Tel Aviv kiboshed.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crkldd02xg8o
We have plenty of problems in this country but at least people accept a rising state pension age.
A family member went to high school with Harold Shipman and were friends. Apparently totally unremarkable/ nothing out of ordinary when he came around for tea a few times.
…
I love it.
And now we know why 9/11 happened.
It was all due to a practical joke from Dom Jolly.
I like to think i am not superstitious, but I have to admit that since then I have not sought out meetings with US senators.
(Incidentally, US congressmen and senators die more often in airplance crashes than the general public. Here's a famous, if somewhat dated, example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Boggs )
But it can be a terrifying place to learn to drive
I've organized you a trip around the US to meet some of our most prominent elected represenatives!
Senators end up doing a lot of flying in small regional jets and private planes. They probably have friends in the general aviation community as well, who have a (relatively) terrible accident rate.
Try this for size. I met Bin Laden. But it was Salim, the one who killed himself in a Florida plane crash. I found out later he was married to a Western woman ( possibly English) and after Salim crashed his plane his Brother Abdullah married her.
The last bit will trigger Leon.
I can recall hearing back during Thatcher's first term that was the only reason he was in the cabinet.
Knobbleeneeze, if I spelt it right
Which set me wondering to what they are doing now. A brief google suggests that at age 36, three of them had children. Only three? A case study in western demographics. Also, at some point in thair late 30s, four of them were still living in their parents' house in Wallasey, with a fifth due to join them soon and the sixth also living in Wallasey.
So, this implies to me that it would be more likely for Netanyahu and maybe Khalil al-Hayya to win (presuming the Peace Plan holds and things look good going forward) than for Trump to win. For Trump to win, I think he'd need at least multiple successes: Gaza and Ukraine, or maybe and Iran.
It was only later I realised she’d said caps…
So, to compare our gilt yields and france's, with a view to comparing the health of our economies, you would have to disentangle those two factors. Britons claiming to be able to so disentangle are often biased, because of national politics.
Home Secretary says failures on migration are eroding trust as she calls for international response" (£)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/14/shabana-mahmood-uk-has-lost-control-of-its-borders
I then spent the summer there and rode that horse Knobbleeneeze every day. He only threw me off once
I know Mick better than most
The 1978 peace between Egypt and Israel was facilitated by Jimmy Carter. Carter did much more than Trump has now. But it's Sadat and Begin who get the Prize. Now, Carter did get a Peace Prize himself, but only decades later and the reason given for his award doesn't even explicitly mention the 1978 agreement.
Likewise, Arafat/Rabin/Peres share the Prize for the Oslo process, not the Norwegian politicians who facilitated everything.
Leaving aside that most people in the world hate Trump (and plenty of people hated Kissinger), the logic of the Peace Prize simply doesn't point to Trump getting it. If Trump wants to win, he has to get the US into a war and then agree a peace. Greenland maybe...?
A high growth, lightly indebted economy, could well have higher governmnt bond rates, because there's inflation.
By contrast, a no growth, highly indebted country (we'll call it Japan), could just be paying 1.65%.
It is worth remembering, too, that regulation means that there are a massive number of legally obligated buyers of domestic government debt.