State of Play

There's nothing that's inspired me in the news today so I'm just going to mouth off about some TV I like.

This Christmas I got an assortment of lovely gifts, one of these lovely gifts was my friend Kelly.

It was a drama called State of Play(careful this link tells you a lot of the plot if you go too far down), which I'd vaguely heard of but not seen before.

So last night I finally got round to opening the DVD up and popping it in my laptop.

I only watched the first episode, because I was exhausted and almost didn't watch it at all, and I was hooked.

There's intrigue from the start and it just gets better.

Plus there's loads of Journalists in it uncovering things and as a Journalism student I heartily approve of that.

Can't wait to watch the next episode, but I wonder if I should pace myself not wizz through it like I did with all four seasons of The Wire (also genius).

I realise some of you reading this may already have seen it when it was on telly, but for anyone who missed it like me run out and buy the DVD now.

Smoking stars give me a break!

Germany's smokers are suggesting that discrimination against smokers is like Nazi anti-Semitism during the Third Reich.

Germany's new smoking ban has prompted the production of T-shirts displaying the Star of David.

More than a thousand of the "smokers' T-shirts" have been sold according to The Independent.

The makers claim that the shirts are "the most aggressive smokers' resistance shirt available" The Independent.

What do they think they're doing?

They're making a mockery of a period of serious Jewish suffering.

No one is going to take you to the gas chamber for lighting up a cigarette.

Plus by encouraging you, banning you even, from lighting up the Government is extending your life.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would think up anything so tasteless.

Shopping is hard work I'll have you know!

Reporting week, a week of sadistic assessment for Westminster journalists, is over and I've been having fun.

First stop, the pub.

Second stop, a posh meal which thanks to me conveniently losing my travel and uni card and ranting I didn't pay for.

Third stop, SHOPPING.

I said to my for these purposes darling mother, hello mum, that I'd like some new clothes.

So she gave me a choice, she braves the shops and gives me stuff for Christmas or she presents me with a crisp cheque and I run around in the sales like a kid in a candy store.

I chose the cheque but what with revising, shorthand and general inertia I didn't reach the shops till Friday - after reporting week.

I met Nargis early Friday morning in Topshop, I didn't leave her company until about 7 or 8.

It was the longest shopping trip I've been on in countless years, I'm normally a very impatient shopper.

I imagined at the start of the day that I would be ambling up and down Oxford Street cursing the fashion industry for not churning out anything that I liked.

After introducing Nargis to Kal Kaur Rai at Topshop (one of my favourite clothing labels) and getting her a nice fitted top from said range we settled down for a coffee and Nargis suggested we go to a place she knew that sold lots of oriental goods.

With my current obsession with Sushi I was delighted by the idea.

So we set off.

Little did I know when she suggested it but the place in question was in Colindale, for those of you that don't know that's the nether reaches of the Northern line.

So I did end up running around like a child in a candy store, well supermarket with candy in it.

I bought lots of Japanese sweets as well as enjoying some Sushi and Sashimi in the food court.

Then after lots of oh look at this isn't it pretty, cute, pointless, we headed back for Covent Garden.

Nargis proved herself a brilliant shopping partner yet again by pointing out a shop to me that I'd never noticed before called Chilli Pepper.

Their clothes are beautiful and they give you really nice material bags for your goods, and we would know as we each walked away with an item of clothing each.

Then finally before I took Nargis to Patisserie Valerie in Soho we made a stop at two comic shops in the area.

And I finally bought the next installment of the graphic novel Painkiller Jane, I've been after it for ages.

Nargis is my new favourite shopping partner.

Sex Pistols Panto...

I read the other day that there is talk of turning a Sex Pistols documentary into a Pantomime.

The Independent reckons this is another nail in the coffin of their credibility.

I disagree.

The Sex Pistols probably did have credibility, but they also had a fair dose of irreverence.

Ultimately though I feel they were a playful band.

I get the impression that Johnny Rotten doesn't take himself too seriously, he might enjoy Panto.

And so might his fans...

What the Sex Pistols probably wouldn't be impressed with me for mentioning is the discrimination case that has just been lost by Nadia Eweida.

Nadia Eweida has been fighting British Airways for discriminating against her for not letting her wear religious jewellery.

I have to say the woman has a point.

You can't let Muslims wear headscarves and Sikhs bangles if you're not going to let a Christian wear a cross.

A cross is surely no more an impediment to the job than a head scarf or bangle.

One rule for all or not at all!

Lenny Henry's back on top

I went to see the first two Radio 4 recordings of Rudy's Rare Records last night.

It starred Lenny Henry as Adam, Rudy's (the owner of Rudy's Rare Records music shop) son.

I was brought up on Lenny Henry, I love Lenny Henry, but in the last couple of years his performances have got a bit predictable.

I enjoyed Rudy's Rare Records immensely.

It wasn't ground breaking, it wasn't the Holy Grail of comedy, but it was funny.

I laughed, a lot.

It was well observed and quite, dare I say it, sweet.

To my mind Rudy was the best thing in it, but there were sterling performances by all.

I've never been to a radio recording before so it was a new experience for me.

We were herded into a small room with a small bar and some chairs where we waited to be called through to get our seats.

The seats aren't alloted so its first come first served and we were lucky enough to get seats right at the front.

Although I must admit, I was a little nervous that we might get picked on, as is the case with Comedian shows.

Indeed the front row came in for a bit of comment.

Lenny refused to believe that most of us were from Brixton.

Just because we is white doesn't mean we ain't ghetto...

er...

Ok, so I'm not funny.

The performance itself was very different to seeing a play.

The actors have the script in front of them and aren't dressed up so you have to suspend your disbelief a bit, even more than on the radio because you're not working from a blank canvas.

It did mean however that I got to see Adam's son's boxers as the actor in question had trousers hanging lower than even my youngest brother's.

It's brilliant that you can go and see shows for free.

I was delighted to find out that we weren't just going to see one, but two episodes, after the end of the first.

The show is due to air in February and I for one will be tuning in to hear it.

Is it convenience?

Technology is there to make life easier, but you have to worry when it gets this easy.

Over the Christmas season when we'd run out of Turkey I nipped to the shops and picked up a stick of garlic bread, quite innocently.

When it came time to put it in the oven my Dad collapsed into a fit of giggles, my aunty Jen smirked and I wondered what the hell was going on.

It transpired that on the back of the garlic bread packet there was a panel which you put alongside a clever oven and it would sort out the cooking for you!

Not enough to just have cooking instructions, just in case you can't read you can get technological wizadry to sort out your cooking for you.

Then the next day I was watching the TV and an advert came on that claimed that 1 in 4 women read their pregnancy test incorrectly.

How hard can it be!

So now there is a new, and probably more expensive, pregnancy test that pops up with a digital message saying Pregnant.

Ok, I need help doing things with my computer sometimes, but I can manage cooking instructions and deciphering the meaning of a blue line.

If you use these...

Never mind, I can't be bothered.

New Year is weird...

I spent my new year in a club in Brixton called: How Does It Feel To Be Loved.

It was a fun night I got my dance on and did lots of twirls with Kelly and Liz.

I didn't get a snog, which is not that surprising but mildly irksome - I hope that isn't a suggestion of things to come in 2008.

Yah I can say that now, we're in 2008, great!

Eughk.

Yes I'm hungover, drank a fair few Sambucas last night amongst other things.

So what can I expect of 2008: well, no more mice (not before they started eating my knickers though), a flowerless Peace Lilly - it's got lots of luscious leaves though, as for the rest..?

New Years bongs were a bit weird when played through a club sound system, I want Big Ben, I want fireworks.

New Years always feels a little anti-climatic anyway, so...

Please excuse me while I crawl off into a corner and rock.