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LondonTown.com | Nelson's Column
 

Back to the 80s

11th April 2008

 

London politics goes retro

The French always have to go one better, don’t they? We had Konnie Huq and some burly men in tracksuits introducing the new Olympic sport of the 100 metre dash-and-beat-
up-a-hippy. It was pretty exciting stuff as our Konnie nearly had the torch wrestled off her, just as she was struggling through to the finish line.

In Paris, on the other hand, they first had riot police smashing batons into hundreds of protestors. Next, they had to extinguish the torch and put it on a bus. Finally, in a scene that could have come straight out of a Luc Besson movie, rollerblading, wall-scaling Green party members managed to hang an enormous Free Tibet poster off City Hall, forcing them to abandon the ceremony that was supposed to take place at the end of the torch’s journey.

(Incidentally… extinguishing the torch so that it could go by bus? Surely that isn’t quite right? As far as I can remember, the idea was that they lit the thing in Greece, and then it passes the spirit of the Olympics on to a fire that burns all the way through the games. Surely when they light the big flame in Beijing, it’s not going to be the sacred spirit of the Olympics burning there, it’s going to be the sacred spirit of the French safety matches they used to relight the thing.)

It’s been a good month for protestors throughout the Capital. The airport expansion lot got their extra publicity from Terminal 5 going tits up, and every child in the Capital is getting a free holiday as the teachers seem to be set on a proper one-day walkout. Along with the fact that people actually seem to care about an election, it’s like the 1980s nostalgia thing has slipped over from music and fashion into politics.

Blair is Drawn

Not really the kind of portrait Cherie Blair would want to look at over her morning cup of coffee – her husband looking decidedly worn out and preoccupied, as though the years in office have been etched into his face. Lucky, then, that the official portrait by Phil Hale will hang in the Houses of Parliament – a stark warning to Mr Brown, perhaps, and maybe an attempt by Tony to retouch his image?

Curry Crisis

One thing that you’re guaranteed if you head to Brick Lane is a curry; a choice of freshly prepared, spicy, delicious curries, at that. But now it seems London’s Indian chefs ensconced in kitchens up and down the “Curry Mile” could be under threat. Not only is there a worldwide shortage of rice (how can you have a curry without rice?), but new immigration rules could make it harder to recruit Indian chefs. Surely Britain will never stand for that!

Passage to India

Forget Paris and Brussels, that’s sooooo last season! The latest train ride to do is the 23-day one from London to Bangladesh, being described as “the world’s greatest railway journey” by er… people who love trains. By the time you get there you’ll have pretty much have used your annual leave for the entire year and there are some security concerns on the Iran-Pakistan border (apart from the fact these lines still need to be linked) but, hey, you’ll see a lot of countries whizzing past.

 
 
 
 

2009

29th December Predictions for 2010
30th November London 1 Paris 0
27th November Mr Benn, The Wombles
26th October Posties Strike a Chord
26th October Frieze Still Pleases
26th September A River Runs Through It
23rd September Blogging is Best
26th August When Saturday comes
22nd August Bring on the Bikes
27th July Against the Clock
20th July View for a thrill
18th June Let Them Eat Cake
16th June Only Fools And Horses?
26th May Come Rain Or Shine
18th May Embarrassing Expenses
27th April New Designs on Old Fossils
19th April City Slickers
26th March Woody Set for Rematch
10th March Take a Bow, London
18th February New Photography Laws
12th February Glitz and the Pitts
27th January Setting the Standard
21st January Too Much for Posh Nosh?
 
 
 
 
 

2004

30th December Party Pooper
23rd December The Second Battle of Trafalgar
16th December Sadie's Year
28th November Ripper-Watch
21st November Kinky Boots
14th November Smoked out
22nd October Yuppie Meal
15th October Fines of Fury
8th October No Twist in the Turner
17th September Battleships, bloodsports and Batman
10th September Clique Week
3rd September Return of the Bard
20th August Politics Takes Centre Stage
13th August Crisis in Theatreland
6th August Journey's End
23rd July Healing Waters
16th July Mandela Statue in Doubt
9th July From Art to Ashes
2nd July One Hurdle Nearer to Gold