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Many of us over 60 are counted out when part-time jobs come up despite our collective wisdom and abilities.

To counter some of this prejudice I have dispensed with sending my CV and have instead created The Complete Picture, an animated ninety second overview of my life to date @ https://vimeo.com/223960456.

 

 

 

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28
MAR
If it’s Friday evening it’s normally a film. I seem to be replacing my traditional Sunday early evening slot with Fridays……..and this time I went to see Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau… a strange film. It was if Hollywood backers were trying to find a way of marrying reality with fantasy. The reality was that the Matt Damon character was a young white version of Obama hoping to win a Senate seat in NY and Emily Blunt’s wondrous heart. And up till then it was a fun movie but...
28
MAR
It is not often that Oxford completes the double but that’s what they did on Saturday when they beat the favourites Cambridge in the Boat race by  4 lengths. It was the same story last December when the underdogs Oxford beat Cambridge in the Varsity Match at Twickenham. Not that I'm biased...........
25
MAR
There have been surprises in the Cricket World Cup currently being played out in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. First of all, compared to the Commonwealth Games last December, all the stadia have been given a whitewash and/or a rebuild with new floodlights. Secondly, the crowds have been pretty good (in terms of attendance) and well informed. Thirdly, the coverage by Sky has been very good.  Three countries have made the semis - India (hot favourites), Pakistan (coming...
24
MAR
What are Budgets for? We had two last year. We had one yesterday. No-one really understands them as the detail, as ever, is always in the detail - witness the fuss already about the 1p reduction in fuel duty which may be clawed back by the oil companies who dislike the extra tax on their profits. Budgets are old fashioned political nonsense. FTSE 100 companies work on three year rolling budgets and then more especially one year and as importantly, each quarter. They have shareholders...
23
MAR
Letter in the Independent http://www.caabu.org/news/news/caabu-letter-thethe-independent-libya Libyans must be allowed to remove the tyrant of Tripoli and his progeny from power. It is their right and they want their chance to do what Egyptians and Tunisians did to their detested despots. Let us hope they prevail, but never forget that when the dust settles it must be Libyans alone who determine the fate of their country and not us. Chris Doyle Director, Caabu, Advancing Arab-British...
20
MAR
Colin Herridge was my co-author of Rugby Revolution which was published in 2003. I had previously authored Rugby DisUnion in 1995. So it seems one or both of us have written books on the rugby world cup every eight years! We have just finished writing our new book: Rugby 2011: The World Cup (Endeavour) which will be published in July.  
20
MAR
The Committee invites written submissions which should arrive no later than 4 April 2011.   E-mail submissions are preferred and should be in Word format (not PDF) and sent to proccom@parliament.uk. Postal submissions should be sent to the Clerk, Procedure Committee, Journal Office, House of Commons, London  SW1A 0AA. Further information can be obtained from the Clerk at this address or by telephone on 0207 219 3318. Committees make public much of the evidence they receive during
19
MAR
I caught Fair Game yesterday evening. It is a film about the appallingness of the Bush administration. Go see it.  www.imdb.com: Fair Game (I) (2010)   108 min  -  Biography | Drama | Thriller   -  11 March 2011 (UK) CIA operative Valerie Plame discovers her identity is allegedly leaked by the government as payback for an op-ed article her husband wrote criticizing the Bush administration. Director:...
19
MAR
About the only thing that England won in Dublin was the kick-off.....as they were seen off by a marauding, intelligent Irish XV. It was if England couldn't think on their own two feet and worse the selectors had only one game plan. Well done Ireland though England won the Championship winning four from five.   And now for RWC2011 in New Zealand in the Autumn.......I'm not sure any of the six nations will trouble the tri-nations though England has good form in world cups having...
17
MAR
If ever there was a period of history of complete inactivity it has been these past two weeks. The UNO is a dead duck; the Wets (aka the West) cannot agree a no fly zone in Libya and so a ghastly dictator will kill his own people; for Libya read Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Europe has lost all conviction and is devoid of any kind of leadership. We have dithered over Libya with such obvious embarrassment that even if a no fly zone is agreed today it will hardly worry Gaddafi and his cronies
17
MAR
Mark Malloch Brown spoke at the RSA last night about his new book The Unfinished Global Revolution. It appeared as if I was the only attendee who had read it which was slightly embarrassing given I was his PPS. I asked him whether he could see the IMF, World Bank and UN being moved out of the USA and whether the G20 would be more important than the UNO by 2021 but his answer was inconclusive.
16
MAR
Doug Smith's annual cricket lunch at the House of Lords. On my table yesterday was Brian Close CBE, Chris Winn, Lord Williams of Elvel and Roy Virgin (amongst others). I chatted to Derek Upton, Vinney Codrington, Lord Matthew Evans and Andrew Miller MP. A lovely way to idle a few hours!
14
MAR
The Tsunami which hit Japan has stunned us all coming so soon after earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand and Chile. The Japanese economy has been static for aeons so it's an ill Tsunami but might one impact of the dreadful tidal waves be a complete re-think amongst Japanese politicians and civil society to re-build its infrastructure from head-to-toe? This would release billions of yen and re-structure her domestic economy. Just a thought.
14
MAR
England may have had all the ball yesterday but a plucky Scotland never gave up though many of them will have bruised and tired bodies this morning. England deserved to win but they failed to capitalise on all the ball they were winning at both the lineouts and scrums. They will be toast in Dublin at the weekend if they do not finish off their moves. In the backs, I'd drop Flood and Tindall though I might consider playing both Flood and Wilkinson (back to his best form); in the forwards...
13
MAR
BBC World recorded an interview for their The Forum programme when we were at Portmeirion last week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00f5w18   Or you can download a podcast from Itunes or http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/forum It includes a question from YT.............
13
MAR
At the annual Parliamentary Rugby Dinner last night I received rather a grand cup as a thank you for my work............hey ho
12
MAR
Today's FT Magazine has a goodly write up by James Crabtree of the event last weekend: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/58ff33b0-49f2-11e0-acf0-00144feab49a.html#axzz1GN5WyRPJ
12
MAR
Hard though it may be to understand I have supported Charlton Athletic all my life having been born in Woolwich back before time began. My first game was Charlton v Blackburn in 1958 when all we had to do was draw and we would have gone up to the first division but we lost 3-4 in front of 70,000+ spectators. I went with my Granddad, Uncle and Dad and in due my course, Jack, my son, was taken by his Granddad when we watched Charlton beat Sheffield United. Earlier I had taken my Dad to the...
11
MAR
Bangladesh (I visited it for a week last year) is, according to Transparency International, the third most corrupt country in the world. Small wonder that its judiciary primed by its politicians - it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart - moved this week to ensure Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, was barred as a board director. Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on micro-financing and his bank has helped over 8 million families - that's 8 million more than
9
MAR
I was a guest last night at the LG sponsored YouTube film: Life In A Day which asked people to film their lives on 24th July 2010 and send them in via YouTube. Hundreds of thousands of people replied and the team led by director Kevin MacDonald has been busy putting this extraordinary film together.
8
MAR
I've always contended that the Foreign Office has been a disaster abroad - look at the major decisions we made in the 20th century: ** wrong on Saudi Arabia and much else in the Middle East ** misreading the tea-leaves on Hitler ** not understanding post war Europe ** believing in some kind of special relationship with America? Why? ** agreeing to the partition of Greater India ** messing up most of Africa ** blind support of Israel after WW2 ** no policy on Soft Diplomacy and so...
8
MAR
I went to the sale of Edward Ardizzone's paintings, watercolours, drawings, original book illustrations and prints yesterday evening at Gallery 27, 27 Cork Street, Mayfair. I missed the illustration I wanted to buy of The Boat to Southend by a whisker and though I looked at all the others I had gone with the intent of purchasing it! Drat. There was also On The Beach (Sheerness) which went for £1200. I have been interested in Ardizzone's work ever since we purchased a house he had...
3
MAR
I went to the first part of the BSAC Film Festival at the Rutherford Conference Centre this morning. Amanda Nevill, Director of the BFI and Adrian Wootton, CEO, of Film London gave us a flavour of how the Film industry was to be re-organised following the closure of UK Film. Then Ben Keen, Chief Analyst and VP of Screen Digest presented a talk on where our leisure spend is likely to go over the next four years.
3
MAR
I signed the CAABU inspired one page letter in The Guardian this morning calling on David Cameron to halt the sale of arms to dictators and regimes with appaling human rights records. The Letter is here:  Dear Mr Cameron   Supporting democracy whilst selling arms that can be used by regimes to subvert the wishes and aspirations of the people under their rule is morally untenable. We, the undersigned, welcome the UN’s recent embargo on arms to Libya but call upon the...
2
MAR
I went to see Brighton Rock. I was tempted by the book and the original film but sadly this version wasn't worth the effort. You know when a film is scraping the barrel when it has to use sea swells and moody music to jack up a disappointing script.
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