Sunday, 8 November 2026

Of multi-storey car parks and Bollywood


Zombie Apocalypse comes to mind

"Day Fever"? My arse! Eighteen quid for a visit to a venue with all the ambience of an underground car-park, but darker, with a massive screen playing "ironic" clips of vintage telly, while the "DJ" digs out the inevitable I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Show Me Love? I lasted around fifteen minutes before I was heading for the lift to get out of this Blade Runner-esque hell-hole...

Sigh. We had a far better time (after escaping) in the Village bar in Soho, for their cock-a-tails Happy Hour, so all was not lost.

Meanwhile, as well as Remembrance Sunday, today is Diwali - so let's have something jolly to help with the hangover, shall we?

I'll have a Lamb Jalfrezi with Pilau rice, please...

Saturday, 7 November 2026

La selezione dei successi

As I head off to rendezvous with John-John and our other old chums we worked with years ago, for a daytime Disco [gulp!] - it's time, methinks, for another collection of some of the "newer" music that has caught my ear of late...

To open proceedings, one of my ultimate favourite groups - that played an integral part in my teenage development - still going strong after all these years! This very welcome "comeback" is in conjunction with former Smiths guitarist (who also plays guitar here) Johnny Marr. Dear Debs does sound a bit like Marianne Faithfull these days...

Speaking of favourite bands - a "new" old track from Scissor Sisters? Released from their archive of previously unreleased material as part of the - gulp! - 20th anniversary celebrations of their second album Tah-Dah!, this is as camp as old tits, and I love it!

Next up, someone who appears to have been force-fed on a diet of '90s Steps and Alcazar songs [no bad thing!]. He's an ageing X-Factor alumnus, apparently. {{{shrugs shoulders}}} I don't care - it's catchy as hell!

Summer may be well-and-truly over, but the "Ibiza party sound" still haunts us - like this banger!

Here's something rather eclectic, courtesy of a combo I haven't featured in ages, the former-classical-chamber-musicans-turned-dance-chart-toppers Clean Bandit, with an Italian-Arabic fusion that I rather like:

It was somewhat inevitable that our favourite weirdos Haute & Freddy would have released a single and video to coincide with Hallowe'en last week - but apparently, so smitten is he with the duo that the producer of the new remake of Carrie streaming on Amazon apparently re-wrote parts of his own series to include their music in his show, including this one!

And finally, saving the best to last - here's a girl after our own hearts! She says out loud what every queen secretly thinks:
"I wanna vogue like Madonna
Say a prayer like Madonna
Get hung up, dress it up
Wanna fuck like Madonna!"

Amen.

As ever, dear reader, I love to know your thoughts...

Friday, 6 November 2026

To help you to remember

Oh, thank fuck - the weekend is just about here, and it's time to start planning that party!

Again, I do actually have one to go to tomorrow - a "daytime Disco", of all things, as arranged as part of our irregular "Old Scopies" get-togethers [people who John-John and I used to work with when we were all at disability charity Scope many moons ago]. Lord knows what to expect, but hey ho, it's something different!

To get in the mood however, we really should be piling on the beaded hair extensions just that little bit thicker than usual, if we are going to keep up with Miss Patrice Rushen... How does she keep her head up while boogying in her jumpsuit-and-stillies combo? She's a marvel.

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a great one, dear reader!

Thursday, 5 November 2026

Of Romanovs, strippers, Purdey, historic stones, a beetle, gunpowder and Totty of the Day

Another snippets post today, dear reader:

  • Baubles news: Among the most important surviving gemstones associated with the Russian imperial court, the 197.80-carat cushion-shaped, rose-cut Romanov Sapphire [pictured above] - once owned by Empress Maria Feodorovna, and now set in an Art Deco bracelet by Cartier - is coming to auction at Sothebys in Geneva on 11th November. It is expected to sell for around £1.5 million (more than $2m). It is on my Xmas wish list already!
  • No dicks allowed news: A Magic Mike-inspired male strip show that was due to appear at local venue Brangwyn Hall was cancelled without notice by Swansea Council, much to the dismay of the ladies-of-a-certain-age who had bought tickets. I have been to Swansea. And seen penises there. Maybe the Puritans took over since those days..?



[click any pic to embiggen]

...oh, and... Happy Bonfire Night!

And the weather? For a change, it's not raining just as people are outside trying to light fireworks in their back gardens! Getting colder, though.

Wednesday, 4 November 2026

Thought for the Day


[Click to embiggen, to print and stick in your window, or to make into a t-shirt]

Hurrah!

Tuesday, 3 November 2026

You couldn’t even guess

Martha Stewart is in the news, and once again Britons are unable to fathom why because she has no equivalent in the UK. These also failed to cross the Atlantic:

Ryan Seacrest
He’s been famous for three decades over there, presenting American Idol, running some form of charity, having somewhat prominent hair. Over here? Nobody has a clue who he is. You couldn’t even guess. If a friend said they’d met Ryan Seacrest, your response would be ‘Seacrest? Are you trying to say wave?’

Martha Stewart
Occupies some nexus of cookery, home arrangement, lifestyle and brands that simply doesn’t exist. Imagine crossing Delia Smith, Victoria Beckham and Kirsty Allsopp and you’re still not close. Shame, because she’s always being sent to prison and incongruously enjoying post-rock gigs in a way that would be fun to savour if she mattered.

Kelly Clarkson
We understand her as a former pop star whose Christmas hit Underneath The Tree will soon get its rusty hooks into your cerebellum and refuse to let go, but as host of a daily daytime talk show? Where she sings cover versions? And has big stroppy fits about magic shops not selling her mechanical birds? You could believe this if it was North Korean TV.

Jimmy Kimmel
Or Jimmy Fallon, or Seth Meyers, or Jay Leno, or Johnny Carson, or any of the hosts of TV shows broadcast at 11.30pm when British TV is showing thrillers from 1994. Apparent household names on shows past bedtime, with guests who are nobodies, mystifying running jokes and commercial breaks every 75 seconds. It makes no sense.

Guy Fieri
A celebrity chef – okay, we do those, with you so far – with bleached hair, sunglasses, bling chains, who shouts about food on the Food Network while running restaurants that are widely hated and usually close down. In some strange alchemy no rational British mind could understand this has made him famous and rich.

Octomom
Woman who gave birth to octuplets, which would make you famous over here. But she had them all implanted by IVF by a doctor who was struck off and has then gone through the standard sequence of reality TV, divorce, rehab, exotic dancing, bankruptcy, and plastic surgery. Be glad we only get Bargain Hunt.

Donald Trump
Millionaire who became famous by being an obnoxious millionaire, not even making a shit phone that does email like our own Alan Sugar. Somehow remained famous despite his businesses failing, then ran for president on the most-unqualified-ever-candidate ticket and won, twice. We will never comprehend why. Soon we’ll be able to forget.

The Daily Mash

Of course.

Monday, 2 November 2026

Auntie

As we gird our loins for another week of endless fun in work, so we also pay due homage to the dear old BBC, whose television service launched at Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally) 90 years ago today! Among the events on offer is an unveiling of a "World Origin" plaque at the palace this evening [we won't be going, despite the fact it's "around the corner" (just a couple of short bus journeys away), as it would be a bit much for a Monday].

Speaking of which - on this Tacky Music Monday, I have discovered a real gem! Someone, way back in the early 1970s, thought that assembling a motley crew of stars from assorted European countries to sing together on a tribute song to "Auntie Beeb" [on what was then the 50th anniversary of its first ever (radio) broadcast] was a great idea. The results are - ahem - interesting...

Have a good week, dear reader.