Month: January 2003

  • London Olympic Bid

    The Culture, Media and Sports Committee has just reported back on a proposed London Olympic bid. The amount of deliberation that’s being made over what is likely to be a relatively small outlay at least initially, seems to be immense. Anyhow their response seems to be that we shouldn’t go ahead “at any cost”. Well…

  • The Leopard

    Some years back, back when foreign language films were shown on terrestrial television, there were a couple of series I used to watch religiously. One was Moving Pictures presented by Howard Schuman, and the other was Moviedrome, presented originally by Alex Cox. Now I can’t remember which of these two fine shows it was I…

  • Stronger Than The Sun

    Shown as part of BBC4’s Poliakoff season, this was a drama that I hadn’t previously seen. It was originally a Play For Today in October 1977, starring Francesca Annis as Kate, a disaffected scientist working in a northern nuclear facility producing plutonium. She meets Tom Bell’s Alan who is the person who first starts to…

  • Terrorist Attack in the UK “Inevitable”

    Tony Blair has been facing the Commons Liaison Committee this morning, and is quoted as saying that it was “inevitable” that Al-Qaeda would attack Britain at some point. I don’t doubt that to be honest. But we can help ourselves by not blithely following Bush into a pointless war that’s certain to create more problems…

  • War on Iraq

    Resistance to the impending war on Iraq seems to be growing at about the same rate as the British Army is arriving in the Middle East. Yesterday more troop movements were announced, with one quarter of the British Army now in the process of being sent into the area. This makes it the biggest buildup…

  • Anti-War Protests

    Good to see that the weekend’s protests against going to war are beginning to be recognised in the media. The NY Times had this, while I noticed it high on CNN’s scope. In Britain, it seems as though February 15 could still be quite a big deal.

  • Stephen Poliakoff

    Last night saw the first part of the new Stephen Poliakoff drama, The Lost Prince. I’ve enjoyed his work since I first saw Caught on a Train (repeated tonight on BBC4) some years ago. He’s always though provoking, and has interesting characters and subject matter. In this case, about a little known royal prince who…

  • Blair Still Gung-Ho

    Maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement, but Blair is sticking to his guns over taking us into war. He told the press conference today that Saddam should disarm, and seems certain the UN Arms Inspectors will find something. Whether Hans Blix finds anything or not, I don’t know, but it seems that something or…

  • The Ring

    Saw a preview of The Ring today, and was pleasantly surprised. I saw the original Japanese version a earlier last year on Filmfour. This version is very nearly a shot-for-shot remake of that earlier film. I wouldn’t go to say that it’s superior to the original, but it doesn’t fall far short, and doesn’t sell…

  • Star Trek: Nemesis

    In short, very disappointing. This seemed to be an average two part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode with a bigger than usual special effects budget. The script was poor from the outset, and it was just dull overall. Certainly, Patrick Stewart’s a fine actor, but this was Star Trek by numbers. Right down to…

  • ID Cards

    Get over to Stand to register your interest in ID Cards. The Home Office seem to think that everyone wants them and their consultation is nearly up. Tell them what you think.

  • L.A. March

    Good to see the numbers game is alive and well. I mean of course, estimating the number of marchers at a protest rally. The BBC are saying 5,000-20,000, while CNN are saying 2,000. Associated Press (via ABC) has the police putting numbers at 3,000 with organisers saying 20,000, and finally the LA Times has police…