Our new PM

Blogs, airwaves and newsprint are jammed packed with analysis and speculation about what Gordon Brown will really be like as Prime Minister. Dangerous territory that I would not normally enter, but I have a thought that I haven't seen anywhere else so I am going to blog it in order that I can claim the credit later! :)

In 1997 when Gordon Brown became Chancellor made the grand gesture of making the Bank of England independent. An action for which he has rightly gained a lot of praise. It demonstrated that he was different from his predecessors and would take decisions that were right for the country. I think that we will see similar grand gesture to show he is a different PM from his predecessors and that the public can trust him.

Restaurant Review: Memories of Bengal, Cholsey

Decided on Friday that I wanted to escape London for the weekend, so after work on I jumped in the car and drove home to my parents house in Oxfordshire. Exactly the flexibility that I hoped having a car would bring me. Yes I could just have easily come home on the train, but getting back home again on a Sunday afternoon is such a pain........

Spent most of Saturday with my friend Will, pictured above. (Andie wasn't there, but I have decided that every blog needs a picture. This is a photo from when we went on holiday a few years ago, the dramatic Gorge de Verdon is in the background.) Catching up, watching Glastonbury on TV and resolving to go next time!

In the evening we went for dinner at the Memories of Bengal, an Indian restaurant in Cholsey Oxfordshire. I ordered a lamb pasanda and through some miracle they managed to make it exactly the same light yellow colour as the pilau rice. My over-riding memory is of eating a plate of homogeneous pale safron coloured food. Despite how tasty it was I couldn't quite get over the visual experience. Will didn't have the same problem with his chicken Tikka Masala. At least I have an excuse to go back again to improve my memory.....

Four meals out in less than seven days. Very continental, I'm trying to start a cafe culture revolution.

Restaurant Review: Saki Smithfields

Last night I went to Saki, a Japanese restaurant in Smithfields, with my friends from the BIM programme at JPM Lee and Nadia.

I've never eaten hard core Japanese food before, probably because I don't really like fish least of all raw fish! We had a fantastic array of dishes. A sashimi platter of tuna, mackerel, octopus, sea bass, prawns and salmon. Sushi, fantastic fried shitake mushrooms, pork belly and eel. The most surprising dish was a recommendation from the waitress for Japanese egg custard. It didn't taste anything like an English egg custard. It was salty, soft textured. I was fearing that it might be slimy, but it wasn't at all.

As Nadia said on the invite come with a full bladder, the toilets are fabulous. I leave for you to discover how fabulous.

It was reassuringly expensive when you are eating raw fish. Not somewhere you can go to regularly, but definitely a good place for a treat!

Restaurant Review: Sri Nam

A real gastro week this week. After promising my team for months I finally managed to take them out for lunch today to Sri Nam in Canary Wharf. Part of a small chain owned by Ken Hom.

Anyone reading this blog will know that I love Thailand and Thai food. The food was authentic Thai, served in annoyingly arty small portions! The dishes were good and the staff humoured my attempts to speak pigeon Thai. Several rungs above your standard Thai takeaway with good quality ingredients and balanced flavours. For me Busaba is still the best mid range Thai in London.

Restaurant Review: Locanda Locatelli

Today I had lunch with school friends Joel, Rob and their wives Katie and Becky at Locanda Locatelli. Lots of quick witted humour from Joel and Rob, barely more sophisticated than in the old days. Rob and Katie have become such a close couple that they are now finishing each others jokes. Joel and Becky bantering, they don't argue.

The atmosphere was sophisticated, yet relaxed and unhurried. The food was classic Italian and the menu is broad with plenty of variation and choice. I thoroughly enjoyed my cured pork neck salad as a starter. The squid which was the other starter at the table looked excellent too. I had veal for my main course. Perfectly cooked, but the girolles sauce was a bit too heavy and masked the flavour of the meat. Desert was the delightful tart of the day. All in all a very pleasant afternoon and for one of London's celebrity chef restaurants at £50 a head I didn't think it was too unreasonable either.

Perhaps I am being ubber critical, but for me there were a few negatives. My apple juice tasted like it was cheap Tesco value and was served warm and without ice. I also think that they were trying too hard with the service and ironically that made it suffer. We couldn't order a bottle of wine from anyone but the Sommelier and we asked for a bottle of water from the wrong type of waiter so it took ages to arrive.

For my money Passione is still the best Italian restaurant in London. Rougher round the edges, but that is part of its charm.

Live music is always good.

Jo and Matt's wedding!!

What to say? Most of the people that read this blog were either at the wedding or will have seen everyone else's photos on Facebook already.

It felt less like a wedding and a bit more like a Hulme Hall and Manchester Music Department reunion. Helped by Jo and Matt's determination for the unconventional it was an excellent day and didn't feel like any other wedding I have been to before.


A big thank you to Jo and Matt, I was honoured to be invited!

Does anyone know what has happened to the Williams F1 podcast?

It hasn't been much fun over the past 10yeasrs, but I am a Williams F1 fan through and through. I grew up in Didcot, Oxfordshire, and the only thing people seem to know about the place is the two power stations and the railway museum. Didcot even appeared on the BBC's QI programme as being the worst town in England.

Our bit of glamour was being home to an F1 Team. That is until it moved to Grove! I.ve been pleased to see some improved form from Williams this year and I was enjoying listening to their Podcasts. However, it seems to have disappeared from iTunes after the first three races. Does anyone know what has happened to it? I fear they they've lost so many fans over the last 10 years it has been dropped.............

New Car Stereo

My new stereo was fitted yesterday and first a glowing review of Halfords. I got a free fit included in the price. It was fast, efficient and painless. They made it look easy, which in reality I think it is, but I was please I didn't have to do it!

The stereo itself is another story! The sound quality is good. However, it is not particularly intuitive to use. The factory defaults seem perverse (it want accept your iPod unless you delve through the menus to tell it to). The user manual isn't very helpful and when you do manage to change a setting it doesn't seem to want to save. I'm sure I'll get there.

Should have done my research before I bought it.................

Restaurant Review: Busaba

Busaba is a small chain of Thai canteen style restaurants in London. Today was my second visit to the branch near Selfridges with my good friend and original Fab Four member Alex.

Busaba has a great atmosphere, with communal chunky square tables, mood lighting and a fantastic smell that emanates from the kitchen. The food is classic Thai with a good range of salads, curries, noodle and rice dishes, that have been given a western presentational twist and aren't quite as ped ped as in Thailand. There was a delicacy and balance to the dishes coupled with quality ingredients that reminded me of Anna's Cafe (see April blog).

My only disappointments are the fact that they don't serve mango with sticky rice as a desert and I am not sure I will ever understand the strange smelling incense that you have to walk past on the way in. Why mask the wonderful smells from the kitchen?

London has some of the best restaurants in the world, but for me where it falls down compared to many other cities, is in the cheap eats category. It seems cursed by over priced mediocracy. Busaba definitely isn't mediocre and thankfully isn't too expensive either! I love it!

Worries for a beautiful country

The British, well British backpackers at least, are in love with Thailand. I've been there three times in the past two years and there is a lot to like about the place. Known as The Land of Smiles sums up the country pretty well; welcoming, tolerant and progressive.

As a committed democrat I was sad to hear about the coup just before my visit in 2006. I felt it was a step backwards. However, on the streets it didn't seem to change much. There were no visible police or soldiers and it wasn't a topic of conversation. The locals didn't seem too bothered.

No government is ever popular with all of its citizens and all governments pass the odd piece of duff legislation. In many aspects the military junta isn't that bad. However, they have passed a number of laws restricting press freedom and some internet sites have been banned. This week the junta appointed Constitutional Court banned the largest political party Thai Rak Thai headed by the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin. The committee appointed to write the new constitution has inserted a number of suspect articles.

The Economist has a thoughtful article concluding that a return to liberal democracy must be step further away after this week's ruling.

I don't like Western Imperialism, but I do believe in democracy and I hope Thailand returns there soon.