July 26th 2004 - August 1st 2004
Sunday National cad
Saturday Blazing
Friday RVT
Thursday Sorry
Wednesday Bleeders
Tuesday Cross3
Monday Flogging
Sunday 1st August 2004
I can't imagine there were many people whose hearts did not lift on hearing the news that James Hewitt had been arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine.
My heart sank again, slightly, on discovering that the arrest was the result of a prolonged stake-out by a freelance photographer (who had the nerve to complain when his 999 calls didn't result in the immediate arrival of hordes of photogenic policemen).
Having spent a while contemplating just what exactly it was that makes Hewitt so venge-worthy, my heart lifted again on reading an article by Brian Cathcart who nailed Hewitt as The National Cad. Spot on.
Saturday 31st July 2004
School blazer victims fight for survival
Friday 30th July 2004
Reasons to follow this link to a glowing review from GoLondon of the Royal Vauxhall Tavern: Because the word 'gay' does not appear anywhere in the piece, at all, ever.Reasons not to follow a Royal Vauxhall Tavern link given by Luca recently: Because all too quickly you will come across the worst picture of me ever, ever, ever (which is certainly saying something).
Thursday 29th July 2004
I'm sorry Blogadoon has relapsed into once-weekly-at-best mode just at the moment. It's partly to do with pressure of work, and partly to do with the slow summer news season. (You'd think the one would counteract the other, but it doesn't seem to work that way.)
I'll get back to more regular updating just as soon as I can, promise. Stay tooned.
Wednesday 28th July 2004
St Ronan's Games and Cleikum Ceremonies is an annual festival, instituted 175 years ago, at which the "Dux Boy" hands out staves to ten "monks"; an effigy of the Devil is then burnt on nearby Curly Hill.
The Southern Reporter was named best weekly newspaper in Scotland in 2002 and 2003.
Coverage of the games in last week's edition was enlivened by a photo caption that read: "Caption Caption: about these pious little bleeders and the lady Busser doing that interminably boring thing so cherished by Border festivals. What on earth is going on in this picture - these people have got to get out more often for their peace of mind and sanity."
A statement from Johnston Press said: "The company can confirm that the editor, Willie Mack, has resigned his position."
The games committee treasurer Norman Scott said: "We had a great week of celebrations and now the Southern Reporter has destroyed everything. Whoever wrote these words must be at least in league with the devil."
Tuesday 27th July 2004
I live in Wapping - and, by great good fortune, I work just a few miles away at Canary Wharf: a third of the way up the first of the tall towers to be built there when the northern slice of the Isle of Dogs began its transformation into a land of marble-plated malls and waterside wine-bars.
Despite the fact that I can almost see my home from my office (if it wasn't for the 'ouses in between), the most direct route remains the little red bus that winds a slow tortuous path through Shadwell, Limehouse and Poplar.
The fastest way to work - and, thanks to my habitual procrastination, the one I need most often - is to take the East London line two stops south (beneath the Thames) to Canada Water, then rush down a flight a steps to the newly-built Jubilee Line and cruise one stop further (back across the Thames) to Canary Wharf.
Or, on the not-infrequent days when Wapping station is closed, I can stride north to Shadwell and catch the dinky Docklands Light Railway: slower, but much more picturesque given it travels above ground.
Leaving work is a different matter: the last westbound Jubilee Line train departs at 0017, the last DLR at 0035 - and I usually finish some time between 1 o'clock and 3 o'clock in the morning.
Happily, the office pays for a minicab to take us home (following much the same journey as the bus, but with a shortcut through the Limehouse Link road tunnel). If there's a problem getting a cab, and it's a fine night, it's not unknown for me to walk: it takes about three quarters of an hour, and I can stroll alongside the river for the first third of the journey.
But I rarely want to go straight home. After six or seven hours of stress, cooped beneath fluorescent lights in the company of seven or eight straight folk, what I most want is beer - and boys.
Which is why God decided to locate the White Swan, almost exactly halfway between where I work and where I live, at Limehouse.
Monday 26th July 2004
Tony Blair will today put law and order at the centre of his drive for a third term in office by promising harsher punishments for crime...
This is expected to infuriate Conservatives, who say he is adopting Right-wing policies to retain flogging support in the approach to the election.
......previous week
