High Tide

I just got hold of a film I haven’t seen since I was a kid: High Tide. It’s an underrated Gillian Armstrong film that no one remembers. You can’t even get it on dvd. The Radio Times says it almost drowned at the time it was released in 1987. Well, I think it would make a great Christmas re-run with all those shots of the Australian sunshine.

Student Protests

I just passed a student demo along Baker Street. Also today, I discovered at least two Oxford University libraries are now closed at the weekend because it’s no longer term time. What’s the bet that when students are paying £9,000 a year to go there, those libraries will still be closed at the weekend outside of term time? Term time at Oxford is just eight weeks. And the last time I was in the Bodleian, one light fixture was buzzing so loudly it was like trying to read with an alarm bell activating overhead, another light fixture was flashing on and off continuously and one reading room was freezing cold. I hope someone else complained too.

Caprice and Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was at Elgood House today in Bell Street, Marylebone, with folks from the Marylebone Project – the largest shelter for homeless women in London. The women were celebrating Thanksgiving because the American Intercontinental University teamed up with the Church Army to cook the tradional American dinner for everyone at Elgood House. Supermodel Caprice Bourret was there too:

The interview is here:

Caprice was joined by Brix Smith-Start from Gok's Fashion Fix. Brix brought her two puppies with her...(mother and daughter, apparently):

I love the beret:

Kate Middleton (or "Catherine")

The only reference in the nationals to Kate Middleton’s spinsterhood is byThe Daily Telegraph:

At the age of 29, as she will be by the time she marries, Kate Middleton will be the oldest spinster ever to marry a future king.

Bachelorettes have more fun than spinsters, DT.

Dame Helen and The Queen

Peter McKay on Dame Helen Mirren in the Daily Mail yesterday:

She considers Britain an ‘angry’ and ‘cruel’ society that no longer cherishes old-fashioned values.

But I wonder if Dame Helen, 65, is also disappointed in the Queen, whom she played in the eponymous film about HM during the Diana crisis.

She wrote to the monarch saying she’d researched her role carefully, adding that ‘day after day my respect for her was growing enormously. She hasn’t replied, but her secretary wrote to me on her behalf, explaining: “We have read your letter with interest.” ’

That’s what I reply to readers who say I should be shot.

I imagine Dame Helen gets interesting letters she doesn’t reply to either.

National Ethical Investment Week

Can we invest ethically?

CIF Belief piece on cooperation in the world of ethical investment:

Picture this: India. Delhi. 2005. A multinational company is looking for skilled employees for five vacancies. It outsources recruitment to a local firm that asks candidates a standard set of questions. One question is "What do your parents do for a living?" The answer reveals where the candidate sits in the caste hierarchy.

Fast forward a year to 2006: A HSBC shareholder attends his bank's AGM in London. He raises the problem of caste discrimination occurring across multinational corporations in India. The chairman agrees this is an issue that needs tackling. HSBC meets with the Dalit Solidarity Network to discuss strategies. Proactive policy follows.

What has the church got to do with any of this? Well, churches in the UK have combined assets of £12bn. That is a sum that wields some power in the investment world. The Methodist church's Central Finance Board (CFB) looks after £1.1bn of those assets. The Ministers Pension Fund accounts for just over a quarter with a further £140m managed for non Methodist bodies under the Epworth name. In June 2010, CFB published its ethical policy on caste discrimination. It stated that companies "should be able to report to shareholders the progress made in enhancing the employment opportunities of scheduled castes within the context of recruitment and in career development". That's just one example. There are many more.

For the whole thing see here

Stephen Fry On Women And Sex

It seems to have come to light over the weekend that Stephen Fry doesn’t like women very much. Remember Stephen Fry in America? He couldn’t even look at a shed full of cows without grossing out about their genitalia. I think his comments are more of a reflection of the fact that Stephen Fry doesn’t want to have sex with women.  Perhaps the men he hangs out with don’t really like women all that much either? And as for women not wanting to have sex with “total strangers” – discretion is something that women do very well.