What is it with British seaside resort hotels? In my experience they seem to delight in making life as difficult and as expensive for anyone who visits them. I’ve just returned from four days in Bournemouth which cost me more than it would have done to spend a fortnight in Majorca. I only wanted to stay four nights but was charged for seven.
You have to book from Saturday to Saturday, you see. I had booked two rooms but was charged extra because there were three people instead of two. There was a list of twenty rules on the back of the door of the room. One of them advised me that no extra towels would be provided under any circumstances. No wonder people shy away from British seaside resorts.
A young lady called Saira Khan was the runner up in the first season of The Apprentice. Sir Alan Sugar certainly tested her mettle. Last month she started a campaign group called Our Say. Its aim is to reconnect people with the political system by encouraging the use of referenda using the Swiss model. In short if you get one million people to sign a petition you can hold a referendum on any national issue of your choice. If the people voted yes, then the Government would be bound to legislate. It would also be possible to instigate a local referendum.
I’m quite taken with this idea as I think it would make people really feel they were playing a role in the political system. However, we do live in a representative democracy and it is not the British way to mandate politicians by means of a popular vote. Perhaps it ought to be, but adopting government by referendum would be a dramatic step by anyone’s book.
The BBC drama the Amazing Mrs Pritchard , has tapped into this powerful well and tells the story of an ordinary Supermarket Manager standing for Parliament as an anti-politician. She goes on to win a General Election and become Prime Minister. It is quite preposterous to contemplate this happening in real life….well, I think it is….
Nigel Worthington is a transparently good man. Few Canaries will have rejoiced at his demise. But sometimes, in all walks of life, you just know when your time is up. Worthington is no fool and will have been expecting the axe to fall for some time. But nothing tells you more about a man than how he handles adversity and ultimate defeat. Nigel Worthington is an example to us all.
Next time you listen to the Today Programme or Radio 5 Live and counted the times the interviewer has said “I’m sorry that’s all we’ve got time for”? Do you hanker for adult political debate over a period of longer than five minutes? On Tuesday I am launching a new Internet TV Channel called 18DoughtyStreet Talk TV. Its aim is to expand the choice available to people who want to watch current affairs discussion programmes. Because it’s on the internet it won’t be regulated by OfCom and does not have to obey the impartiality rules which the BBC and Sky are subjected to. It’s already been dubbed Tory TV by knee-jerk addicted journalists who should know better. Just because the channel will be opinionated and seek out controversy, does not mean that it will only broadcast one editorial standpoint.
We want to stand up for the little guy – fight the establishment and their cosy little cartels, but of course the real question is: will anyone watch? Internet TV is in its infancy. Few people realise that most TVs have an adaptor in the back into which you can plug your computer and then watch Internet TV through your normal TV screen. When this catches on, the mainstream channels had better watch out.
This is the age of the niche. Within five years there will be a huge number of niche TV channels and viewers will be able to take their choice. If you think Sky Digital provides you with a huge choice, the internet will multiply that choice by a factor of a thousand. Are you a knitting addict? Tune into the Knitting Channel. Or do you prefer Crochet? Be sure that within a very short time such specialist channels will exist. So be sure to tune in to www18doughtystreet.com on Tuesday for the very first edition of my show Vox Politix. Or you can watch The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. Great to have that choice, isn’t it?!
While I was at the Tory Conference this week I popped into the Greenpeace Climate Change Clinic. Really, don’t laugh. According to their computers I emit 19 tonnes of carbon each year (they didn’t count hot air). Half of this is accounted for by the fact that I drive an Audi. Suitably shamed, I left the clinic wondering why it is impossible to have an intelligent debate on Climate Change. There is a school of thought which thinks it is a natural phenomenon but the liberal intelligentsia dismisses such views as cranky. A new phrase – Climate Change denier – has entered our lexicon. I am not a Climate Change denier, but I am quite happy to listen to the arguments they put forward. It’s a pity supporters of the green movement are too small minded to do so.
