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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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29
OCT
I went to see Skyfall yesterday morning at 1030. I thought I'd creep into Curzon Chelsea thinking hardly anyone would be up notwithstanding the extra hour in bed.....how wrong could I be...the cinema was reasonably full..... I loved the film - it moved fast, the music was excellent, the acting pretty good, the chases and gimmicks fun and the odd sense of humour had returned to the script...........the old Bond in a new formula is set fair for the next decade.
29
OCT
There was almost a full house (over 1400) for the game against Rosslyn Park on Saturday. Richmond let the game slip away from them in the first half and though they came back with a bang in the first 15 minutes of the second half to be one score away from Park 17-21...they couldn't maintain it and their worthy opponents finished them off winning 17-37. Ouch. 
26
OCT
I went with Daisy to hear Don McLean at the RAH last night. It was the third time I had heard the singer-songwriter best known for American Pie and Vincent. His act took some time to warm up but in the latter half  of a 90 minute show he had us on our feet dancing and singing. He took a well deserved ten minute encore.
22
OCT
How many senior BBC staff will fall on their swords over Newsnight's decision to drop the Jimmy Savile story? Answer: don't hold your breath
18
OCT
Nike is of the great start ups which built itself over 20 years into a great global sports brand company. Like Apple is doesn't manufacture anything but it commissions hundreds of companies around the world to do the work for them.  I first visited them in Beaverton, Oregon in 1983 and re-visited in 2001: much had changed to the Japanese inspired Nike campus. One was that their global sportsmen and women could have a special pavilion or sports facility built to commemorate their...
16
OCT
There was a very good crowd at RAC to see Oxford University v Richmond Vikings (2nd XV) last night despite the weather. Oxford looked stronger up front and had the put away some early opportunities they may have won but they didn't and in the end they lost 10-26. They gave away far too many penalties which disrupted them. On this showing they need to let the ball go more freely to their backs.  The Varsity Match is less than 6 weeks away......(6th December 2012).
16
OCT
Could our UK politicians show a lead to Europe? The CAP is clearly a busted flush; the failure to sign of accounts demonstrates a lack of transparency in Brussels and elsewhere; the gravy train has to stop. Could we place our contribution to the EU Budget into an escrow account and give the Council of Ministers two years to sort these issues out and if they don't then let us have a referendum once and for all about whether we should be in or outside the EU. Just a thought.
15
OCT
I went with Daisy to see the film of Jack Kerouac's great book On The Road at The Barbican last night. Afterwards, we couldn't think of one redeeming feature in the film. It lacked real pace, there wasn't enough music, there was no sense of America in the late 1940s early 1950s and it felt like lots of different sourced, yet in the end similar, scenes stitched together.
15
OCT
Emma Nicholson, who lives three doors up, arranged a farewell party for me yesterday afternoon (I am moving to Pimlico next week). She is such a decent soul. Fourteen neighbours turned out and we had a lovely time. Emma had done one chocolate cake for Westminster and another white chocolate cake for my beloved Siena. Bless her. 
14
OCT
We went to the Past Presidents and VPs luncheon yesterday at Richmond Athletic Ground prior the National League 1 game against Cambridge. We were not at our best but in the end found some kind of form winning 30-10. 
14
OCT
I was invited to supper on Friday at The Markham Inn in Elystan Street, Chelsea thanks to Elie Bitar. He had in turn invited friends from LSE and UCL all under 30 - a banker, a lawyer, an HSBC sales person and a control risks guy. They were a lot of fun and the evening was even more interesting as one of the invitees had accidently taken a woman's kit bag from his gym and was worried sick about who might have taken his as it had in it his visa and passport and assorted other important...
14
OCT
I had lunch with two diplomats from the Kurdistan Regional Government on Friday at Restaurant Bistro 51 in Buckingham Gate. We talked about how we might introduce rugby to the region.
14
OCT
George Entwistle, the new DG, had a baptism of fire last week over the Jimmy Savile claims. He took too long to make a statement and then when he did it was fatuous. Why was the BBC 2 Newsnight programme on Savile pulled at the last moment.....George we're still waiting to know...... The BBC could save £m by taking a whole management tier out of its crappy bureaucracy.
12
OCT
The Goring Hotel is tucked away in the shadow of Victoria railway station which is undergoing a refit. In the Summer months you can sit outside and enjoy a cup of tea or glass of wine though you might need a mortgage to enjoy the latter. Anyway, I was a guest at dinner there last night. For some reason we decided to have a brandy or three......and I woke with a sore head.....
12
OCT
I caught up with Inma Martinez, digital expert, banker, investor et al who just happens to speak half a dozen languages......on Wednesday afternoon. We have shared speaking engagements in the past....she is seriously bright.
12
OCT
I went to a lunchtime talk by Eliane Glaser entitled "How to de-spin a party conference" at the RSA yesterday. Actually it was a front for her new book called: Get Real: How to tell it like it is in an age of illusions...... It was a brave talk where she called for the main political parties in the UK to return to ideology rather than crowd the centre ground. I took issue with her (the pod cast is on www.therasa.org) and said that currently if a politician was to tell its voters that...
11
OCT
Raymond Blanc has opened Brasserie Blanc at 9 Belvedere Road SE1 just opposite the National Theatre and we had lunch there yesterday. It is bigger than you think it could be from the outside and the ambience inside is a welcome boost to an area which has never rocked the soul irrespective of the theatrical and musical offerings elsewhere on the South Bank. I would suggest this might be a bit of a gamble for Monsieur Blanc. The wine list is good without being exceptional and the food was
10
OCT
I was up at Iffley Road, Oxford on Monday night for the Dark Blues match against a lively Leicester Tigers "3rd" XV. Conditions were slippery under foot and it rained as well but both sides still tried to run the ball which was commendable. The sides were evenly balanced and but for an interception try by Leicester the result might have been different. The Blues still have many injuries.....alas....but there was a crowd of about a thousand which given the filthy night was pleasing.
10
OCT
I have been  one meeting of the Hacked Off group and caught up with one of its founders, Brian Cathcart at the Labour Party Conference. And it is Brian who has done a rushed but brilliant job in writing up the campaign in a Penguin Special entitled: Everybody's Hacked Off: Why we don't have the press we deserve and what to do about it. Whatever Lord Leveson may say the fact is that the Tories have been heavily leant on by News International and others NOT to have a regulator for...
10
OCT
I am reading Willpower: Why Self-Control is the Secret to Success but I am struggling to finish it.
10
OCT
I wasn't an immediate fan of the Beatles until Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in June, 1967. I do have a photo of them taken in Southend when they played there in 1963 or 1964. I also enjoyed The Searchers, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Hollies and The Animals. I was very late to the dance floor. Whenever possible I would go to all their concerts at The Gaumont or the Albert Hall and consequently saw Dusty, Roy O, Ike and Tina Turner, Inez and Charlie Fox, the Beach...
4
OCT
We went to the first concert (of two) of Van Morrison and his great band last night at Ronnie's. It was a sell out and he was sensational. VM sang, sometimes forgetting which song he was supposed to be playing to, but no-one cared as we all knew we were in the presence of one of the most loved musicians in the world. 
4
OCT
I had a friendly lunch at the Cork & Bottle today with Adrian Flook, the former Tory MP for Taunton. We were both on the DCMS Select Committee when he was in the House from 2001-2005.
4
OCT
I was on the last panel yesterday morning at King's College on a special Editorial Intelligence conference on Health see: www.editorialintelligence.com  It had been well trailed in The Independent by Jeremy Laurence: "They could save the NHS – or bankrupt it. New technological advances that are transforming care of patients also risk crippling the health service responsible for delivering them. At a conference today, sponsored by The Independent, experts will describe
3
OCT
Labour Party Conference 2nd October 2012 It doesn't really matter what you do on the Tuesday of conference as long as you find a ticket or queue for 90 minutes for a place in the Conference Hall for the Leader's Speech. And though Ed M's speech would be important there was still 31 months before a General Election so it wasn't crucial though we all hoped he would speak in a language we understood.  We were all wrong as Ed blew us away in a 65 minute oration with no notes and a style
2
OCT
Monday Second Day I woke to the news that Eric Hobsbawm had passed away. He had been ill for a while. I sent a note through to Julia Hobsbawm, his daughter. I read Eric's book Industry and Empire in 1968 just before my Economic History A level and I am sure it was the reason that I managed a B!! I have always had a soft spot for him. I was at Conference by 10 and had breakfast which was half the price of the one on offer in my Premier Inn. Walking in I met Martha Kearney of World
1
OCT
Labour Party Conference, Sunday, 30th September, 2012 I awoke to the news that the delightful Malcolm Wicks MP, aged 65, had passed away after struggling with cancer for over a year. The hurried obits spoke of his "saintliness" which was absolutely spot on.  I briefly read the Sundays, packed and took the bus and then the tube to Euston where I met up with Jonathan Shaw, ex MP for Chatham & Aylesford, Roger Truelove, my former agent, and eventually Daisy, my daughter. Eventually,
1
OCT
Walking into Conference this morning I was interviewed by Marth Kearney for World At One about the Economy et al.
1
OCT
I went to a terrific game of rugby on Saturday at the Richmond Athletic Ground where Richmond blew a lead of 27-10 (I think) but held on (just) to draw with the league leaders. A goodly crowd of just under a thousand saw a nail biting finish and plenty of running rugby.   My other love, Charlton Athletic, also drew 1-1 against Blackburn at The Valley.
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