Author/Scriptwriter/Actor/Cruise Ship Entertainer: Big Impression/Pompidou/Chucklevision etc. Latest book: comic thriller OLD MAN OUT.

The British Isles
Joined June 2011
Out August 1st, folks. 'For a jaunty summer read this is hard to beat. I was chuckling fit to burst,' - St. Augustine.
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The BBC has agreed to pay £400,000 to an award-winning Jewish documentary-maker who alleged she was subjected to antisemitism and pushed out of the corporation after October 7. Lucie Kon, 57, spent 22 years at the BBC and worked on programmes including Panorama, Today, BBC Breakfast and Storyville. Films she commissioned or helped produce won an Oscar, Emmy and Bafta. Kon says her treatment changed dramatically after the Hamas attacks. She alleges colleagues described Zionists like her as “evil”, argued that Israel should be called terrorist if Hamas was, and told her to consider what had driven Hamas to carry out the massacre. When she proposed a documentary about October 7, Kon says she was told she was “too partial” to oversee it because she was Jewish. She subsequently filed a formal grievance, but a BBC investigation rejected her complaint. Kon says she was then kept away from work for months. During a restructuring, her position was made redundant and she failed to secure the similar role replacing it. She launched unfair-dismissal proceedings. The BBC has now agreed substantial compensation, reported as £400,000, without admitting liability or accepting that Kon suffered antisemitism. Kon says Jewish employees still at the corporation continue to face hostility and feel unable to identify openly as Jewish or Zionist.
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Best anecdote in Carol Thatcher's book about her father is when Sir Denis boarded a train at Paddington in which the only empty compartment was reserved for Rosewood Psychiatric Hospital. Denis travelled alone and in comfort as far as Reading when "all these chaps piled in", accompanied by a male nurse, who counted them before the train moved off. 'One, two, three, four ... who are you?" "I'm the Prime Minister's husband." "Six, seven, eight, nine..."
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Monday 16th November. 830 sharp 5 seats left And I need 2 ! Book phoenixartsclub.com
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When you have to break off from reading a ghost story in order to set up a spread sheet:
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I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour but heaven knows I'm miserable now.
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Delighted Sir Ian McKellen is joining the show along with a host of other great names from the world of stage and screen... silver and television Over 1,000 tickets sold. Not many left. See link below. Do join us if you can.
🎭 RAISE THE ROOF! 🎭 On 1 November, @ElstreeStudios & @denville_hall join forces at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre to celebrate our 100th birthdays _ raise funds for Denville’s Centenary Appeal Hosted by Bradley Walsh, tickets from £35 on sale now 🔗 delfontmackintosh.co.uk
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Wonderful snippet of London's old mewses (mews's?) that becomes eye-openingly Sixties-bonkers at the end when the girl dances covered in mice. A bit like every Sixties film.
This one's spectacular. In the 1960s, London's Mews were still being used to keep horses. This clip spoils us with a lovely glimpse of the people, pubs, and lifestyle among the cobbled backstreets that have since become expensive housing. They certainly had more personality then than nowadays. @Britains___Pubs
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Sally Rooney is a writer and funder of terrorism. Fixed it for you.
OPEN LETTER: Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist. Her books must be available to the public. Their withdrawal from sale, on the basis of ill-conceived and draconian anti terror legislation, is an affront to basic principles of free speech and expression so long taken for granted in this country. We categorically reject censorship - whether direct or indirect - and urge the government to change course, amending the legislation which has led us to this point of repressive absurdity.
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But in 2024 Rooney called for a boycott of Israeli authors & books.
We have published an open letter against the removal of Sally Rooney’s books from sale in Britain.  Between them, the signatories to the New Statesman open letter have won every major literary prize, from the Booker to the Pulitzer. They include Nobel laureates: Anne Carson, the most recent winner of the literature award; Annie Ernaux, and JM Coetzee. These are voices from all over the world, including pre-eminent novelists: Julian Barnes, Zadie Smith, Jeanette Winterson, George Saunders, Ben Lerner and many more. Key figures in the wider Rooneyverse are signed up: Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, Alison Oliver, Fionn O’Shea and Lenny Abrahamson. Among the award-winning actors, filmmakers, and screenwriters who have signed include: Tilda Swinton, Susan Sarandon, Jessie Buckley, Jonathan Glazer, Armando Iannucci and Sharon Horgan. In total, over 150 major figures have signed. Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist.
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Just as US commanders studied Virgil in the allied liberation of Italy, Brtish naval commanders were still studying Nelson in WW2. Just read Hibbert's masterly biog. Breathtaking.
#OTD in 1805, the Royal Navy defeated the combined forces of France and Spain at Trafalgar. The tactical brilliance, professionalism, technology and training which underpinned Adm Lord Nelson’s stunning victory have driven and shaped the Navy ever since. #TrafalgarDay
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Celebrating Leonard today, on what would have been his 100th birthday. Where's the handle? #leonardrossiter #risingdamp
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🚨 In a letter to Andy Burnham, Labour Against Antisemitism said: “Your national security adviser’s wife, Sarah Helm, has written of ‘the Jewish lobby’ and its access to prime ministers. “Partners are part of developed vetting. Either Jonathan Powell lacks full clearance, vetting missed this, or saw it. Each is indefensible. “You promised zero tolerance on anti-Semitism. Mr Powell’s position is untenable, and his wife raises security concerns. He must resign or be sacked.” telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…
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Celebrating Leonard today on what would have been his 100th birthday. Here's a wonderful clip with Eric, Don and Gillian from ITV's 2001 Unforgettable doc, a huge thrill to have worked on this to celebrate Leonard's life and work. #leonardrossiter
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Sarah Helm, wife of the UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell, has far worse social media than was reported at the weekend. She's compared Israel to the Nazis; defended Hamas; and questioned reports of their mass rape. Me for the Spectator. spectator.com/article/reveal…
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It’s wrong on all counts. I would no more depend on the BBC’s coverage of France than I would Putin on Russia.
The BBC has given up claiming that the riots in France are about education and now says they are about “the cost of living and other issues”.
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.@EmmanuelMacron One year ago, you proudly recognized a State of Palestine. Now you got it.
Replying to @HillelNeuer
“Today, it is the Republic that is under attack... It is urgent that calm be restored, the Republic regain the upper hand, and that France escape this spiral of violence that will end up engulfing us all.” — @rglucks1, centre-left presidential candidate
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It’s been 9 years since Shaun Murphy played the shot of the World Championship against Ronnie O’Sullivan.
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There should be a logical fallacy called Appeal To Fire. Like when you burn things down you’ve lost the argument.
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Just a reminder that France recognised the state of "Palestine," banned Israeli ministers from entering France & announced national measures to prohibit trade in goods from Israeli settlements. Pro-Palestine activists still burnt down parts of France. Appeasing them never works.
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