I thought I would start the Bank holiday weekend early. It is unlikely that many of my clients, or potential clients, will wish to be troubled tomorrow by phone, email or at all. I have, however, noticed that on the Friday of a bank holiday weekend people are remarkably industrious. When, in the past, I have telephoned on such a Friday I have been told “He’s in a meeting”… “He’s still in a meeting”… “Yes.. it is a very long meeting”…”He’s in another meeting” . The other remarkable feature of Friday Bank holidays is how many people are ‘working from home’ but so industriously that they cannot take calls or their mobiles don’t work. I have therefore given up on the working on Fridays before Bank holidays…at least in terms of writing or doing new business.
And so apropos of nothing at all.. my thoughts turn to SurAlanSugar… or Baron Sugar as we must now style him… Lord Sugar, if you are one of those children on ‘Junior Apprentice’. I’m afraid that I agree with a lot of people on twitter. Junior Apprentice is a bit ‘creepy’. I don’t like it. I think they are a bit young. Yes.. Sir Alan was building a multi-million pound business at the age of 14. I was sweeping chimneys at 7… by 12, too large to get up chimneys, I was sent down t’mines and by 18 I was thinking about putting in a takeover bid for Harrods but Al-Fayed beat me to it. I made all that up, of course. I like Alan Sugar. I admire the fact that he built up a business from scratch and speaks his mind. I am a bit baffled as to why he revels – or appears to – in all this ‘Sur Alan’ and ‘Lord Sugar’ nonsense. Harmless enough, I suppose. I still prefer Keith Richards’ view about titles… on hearing that Mick Jagger had been given a knighthood…. “I’m not going on a fucking stage with someone wearing a fucking coronet and sporting the old ermine..” or perhaps that was apocryphal? On the other hand.. if one can’t beat ’em… join ’em. May well be time to start awarding myself some new titles.
I’m amusing myself by growing another absurd tache. I’ve also discovered a facility on my new iMac which allows me to take photographs of myself in sepia, colour, black and white and even X-Ray…. I won’t be inflicting any more pics of myself on you… but here I am in ‘moody’ sepia… retro… or what?
I shall, no doubt, get bored with it… or when I realise that sitting having a coffee in Battersea Square impersonating King Lear is not one of my ‘great ideas’.
Torture inquiry should leave no stone unturned, says Amnesty
Guardian: Investigation into human rights abuses promised by William Hague needs to be independent and must look at criminal responsibility, says organisation
The coalition government should “leave no stone unturned” in the search for the truth about the UK’s complicity in foreign torture, the head of Amnesty International has said.
An inquiry promised by William Hague, the foreign secretary, needs to be both independent and able to decide whether any individuals should be prosecuted, said Amnesty’s interim secretary general, Claudio Cordone.
I can go along with that.
Lord Lester has published his Libel Bill. I’ve read it. You can too, if you haven’t already. The pdf is available here. I’m still thinking about the implications – but it is very interesting so I want to take a bit of time before I comment on it. Some of the comments I’ve seen on the net are amusing – particularly from lawyers! Vested interests tend to shape responses… ineluctably.
Lord Steyn: Defamation and Privacy: momentum for substantive and procedural change?
Guardian: Read Lord Steyn’s Boydell lecture on defamation law and privacy in full. This is most interesting and worth a read. Are their hidden messages in it? Seems there may well be.
Excellent – the cigarette makes it. As for the ‘tache, I DO hope you’re not aiming for the full Jimmy Edwards……or, even worse, the full Nabarro?
Pam – It will be more Vercingetorix !
Vercingetorix – well if you’re going that far then why not go the whole Catweazle, with beard as well? Think of the challenge of directing Rioja through *that* forest 😉 http://bit.ly/cZdCPj