London Tonight Tonight: Fri 21st Dec

Good afternoon.

"'Twas the night before"...

( the weekend before

the day before)...

"Christmas,

and all through the house,

not a creature was stirring,

not even a mouse".

BOO!

That'll wake the little darlings up, as will Mike Smith, in his mighty helicopter, swooping this way and that, hither and thither, to tell you what the traffic is like this "eve of Christmas" Friday, (allowing, once again, for the weekend and, indeed, for that pesky Monday).

Maybe it is that confusion which leaves 5% of Londoners saying they dread the whole thing. We've conducted a poll of you all to find out what fills your stocking and decks your halls this time of year. Fascinating results from how much you've budgeted, assuming you've budgeted, to what matters most to you Crimble-wise: producers and directors of nativity plays bring your kleenex... you are not going to be happy bunnies.

A very happy bunny is Stephen Gately, ex-Boyzone, now back in Boyzone, and in the West End. He drops in like Santa, full of joy and laden with the gifts of wit and repartee.

Unlike Youtube's favourite hit - a young woman who happens to look like Britney Spears. Worth a look according to zillions of people. We invite you to join them, briefly. Steve hits it, one more time.

More leisurely will be James review of the movies,, including the subject of America's most successful ever opening weekend: it is the stuff of legends. He also looks at Alvin and the Chipmunks which, if the other crits are anything to go by, he may regret. Up to you, as always.

As always, too, we have papers and Chrissie's weather - if she turns up. She was in black yesterday which worried me. Her total absence thus far today, clothed or not, suggests to me a real fear on her part that she might not get home again. I am fearful but, like you, will be there at 6 to discover the awful truth.

Finally a caroling treat from Westminster - not politicians, I promise you. But is it the Abbey or the Cathedral? Anglicanism or Holy Rome? It would be a sacrilege to tell you so you'll have to hang on in there for the very end. Bitter it won't be.

I made the right to do What Not to Miss my special Christmas gift to Salma. She was moved.

See you at 6.

Alastair and Salma.

 

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Thurs 20th Dec

Good afternoon.

Euphemistic double entendres, analogies, similes, puns and plays on words - all ways of ducking and diving, linguistically. So when the Mayor says Brixton Base are "closing" and Brixton Base say they are "moving"... you begin to wonder. Then you remember this is one of the organisations at the heart of Andrew Gilligan's savage attack on the Mayor's ethnicity man Lee Jasper in the Evening Standard, all stood by by Gilligan, all vehemently denied by Jasper on this very programme, you feel duty bound to dig, unearth and lay out your findings like Howard Carter at the tomb of Tutankhamoun. Harris is the man in riding breaches with the solar tope who took the Earl of Carnarvon's shilling.

West Ham are putting their money where their mouth is: they've a good track record as a community focused club and have joined forces with Newham Borough in a determined anti-knife and gun crime campaign. Ken (the one who works here, not the one at City Hall), who worships at the altar that is Upton Park, says the campaign will be a gem when fought at home but might face a bit more of a test on away territory but that, in so many ways, is the point of it. Liz is in claret and blue for you, and will be forever blowing bubbles at six.

Blowing in the wind is the answer to this conundrum: why is the treatment of parking ticket appellants so different from Borough to Borough? How many wardens will it take till they know that too many appeals have been lost? And how many plastic bags will it take til they know that only a level playing field will do? Sharon, my friend, is the girl in the know: she is the girl in the know.

No-one seems to know anymore what really happened when a baby died in the care of child-minder and respected citizen Keran Henderson. The prosecution said she shook the baby to death and a jury agreed. Now two of them have unusually expressed public doubts. Witnesses agreed with the prosecution, too, but now one of them isn't sure, either. Nor is the Attorney General herself, Baroness Scotland... who is Attorney General for England and Wales. (Scotland has a Procurator Fiscal but who doesn't only deal with financial matters. I am going mad. Move on.) We talk to Keran's husband about how close he thinks he may be to seeing his wife freed from her three year sentence.

Not in time, I fear, to wander down to HMV and effect which song will be No1 this Christmas; though, if she can get online in jail, she could via a download. I am banking on Fairytale of New York ("with bars big as cars") but it will be a fiercely fought contest with young Leon Exfakter in with a good chance. Steve, who retains a touching outside hope for Sir Cliff Richard, is our Jimmy Saville-Chris Moyles clone with your Christmas Top of the Pops.

Also, pop-pickers, our penultimate school carol and a real treat tomorrow but I'll leave that for tomorrow.

Chrissy is all in black today: very worrying for someone who drove home through -5 degrees last night, I can tell you... through chattering teeth.

Nina's done some more Christmas shopping this lunchtime and is warming herself with a coffee as I write: her tiny hand is frozen, I hum.

Wrap up warm in the three London papers, my friends, thinking of those who are worse off than you.

Stay in the warm with us at 6.

Alastair & Nina.

London Tonight Tonight Wednesday 19th December

Good afternoon.
Something quite remarkable might happen on the programme tonight so I am keener than normal that you don't miss a moment of it. I am not yet referring to a fleeting visit by the fabulous Will Smith nor the gloriously naughty presence of Rupert Everett, who may or may not be dressed as the Headmistress of St. Trinians. Not even a madly optimistic weather forecast from Robin - a White Christmas for those who want one, and Caribbean warmth for those who don't. No, none of the above though all will happen. Apart from the forecast.

I am talking about something that might save young lives, would make our streets safer, certainly save taxpayers' money and suredly make us all feel that there is some good in humanity after the trials and tribulations of 2007. We believe it can do what it says on the tin and that you will all want to support it. Join us at 6 and feel better. Glen is the man with the means and we have a powerful cast of supporting players to dig deeper into what we are aiming to achieve. I am quite excited and I haven't even had my chocolate fix yet.

From Sunday, were I a regular user of Liverpool Street Station, I would probably need the entire output of Cadbury's Bournville factory to stop my spirits slumping to depths not even plumbed by Jules Verne's heroes in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. They, and here I mean the combined forces of Network Rail (you begin to smell a rat) and Transport for London (this body is now putrid),  are shutting the place for 10 days. The new East london Line requires nothing less and while they are about it they are going to level a Victorian Viaduct too. So if you had hoped to escape this madness from Stansted airport, steady your nerves for a bus ride. And if you work in the City but live in airy East Anglia, contemplate a bike or a ten day sickie. I know it has to be done but, like drilling root canals, there must one day be a better way. Jon is the man with the white coat and an ample supply of straight jackets for the commuters he will be interviewing.  Victoria Tube station is closing on Sunday, too, so the world really has gone to Croydon in a hand-cart.

When they used to cry "Bring out your dead" during the plague, the mortal remains of those tragic victims were often taken to their final place of repose in a hand-cart. Nowadays it can be anything from a modified Daimler limousine, for most, to a horse drawn, glass-sided piece of morbid Victoriana, especially popular in the East End. In parts of Essex? Who knows. Possibly a long wheel base Cortina or two Robin Reliants, back to back, welded in the middle. Anyway, it is to the final resting places of Essex that we turn our sombre attentions tonight: the authorities want to level many of them with bulldozers -no, I couldn't believe it but Faye, draped thoughtfully today in high-fashion widow's weeds, assures me it is true. The allegedly elected leaders of that shire don't like the head-stones in many of their cemeteries and feel everything needs to be squeezed up a bit closer. I think some of those Councillors may be in a "dust to dust, ashes to ashes" situation, politically, a little sooner than they had planned at this rate. Liz wears a long, black veil and sheds a tear for sanity.

Boris has a green successor to the Routemaster which is red but ecologically better. TfL say it's not on. Whether they mean the bus or the thought of Boris in charge will be tested by Piers who loves an oyster and says "ping ping" better than most.

I think that is it but, looking back, I find myself agreeing with Faye when she says, as she just did,  "This programme is packed: there won't be much time for chat". Chat? This is all a carefully and economically crafted masterpiece. I may storm back to my caravan and seek out that chocolate and that season ticket to Clacton, before it is all too late.

See you at 6.

Alastair and Nina.

London Tonight Tonight Tuesday 18th December

Afternoon one and all,

Tell you what - we've got a mixed programme for you this evening. You won't find much else on the telly that works in a St Bernard, ice-dancing, climate change, Spiderman... and all rounded off with a Christmas carol. Eh, now there's an early Christmas present for you.

 

Not much Christmassy about our top story though. An old people's home in Blackheath is set to close - forcing families to find somewhere else for their elderly relatives. Now, tough business decisions have to be made and people have been given 4 month's notice. But families have told us they had no clue the home might close. In fact, they were told their loved ones had 'a home for life'. What's more, the other homes offered as replacements by the home owners... are also set to close soon. We hear from the families and the health company's Chief Executive.

 

Anyone living anywhere near Buncefield oil depot won't need reminding of 11th December 2005 - the huge explosion... the miserable aftermath. Well, today, many of them DID get an eerie echo of that morning when another huge fire broke out a warehouse nearby. We'll be reporting live from the scene.

 

Do you, like us, despair of idiots who give animals as presents at Christmas? You know - puppies that don't stay small and fluffy. Owls, that can't actually survive on chocolate buttons. Well, to drive the point home this year, the RSPCA have wheeled out the big guns, in the shape of a St Bernard. Called Angel. You'll want to meet him, but would you want to give him a home? He's big. Lovely but big.

 

And then there's climate change. Spiderman climbing up a 20 storey building in Victoria in fact. He hopes people will talk about him... and climate change. We reckon people might just talk about him... and then "pass the crisps, would you?"

 

Then who could forget High School Musical. Even High School Musical 2? Well now there's High School Musical - On Ice to end up seared on your memory. What could be more Christmassy than that?

 

Well, a carol for starters. We won't start with one. But we will end with one.

 

See you at SIX,

Ben & Nina.

 

#

London Tonight Tonight: Mon 17th Dec

Good afternoon.

Busy weekend? Bet many of you were at the super-market, or that special little supplier you try to keep to yourself, stocking up with too much food and even more drinks. Last minute presents or, perhaps, collecting that brilliantly imaginative item you've been promising to get your Special One, all year? It is that time of year when the countdown to Christmas crowds out most things, and families gear up to forget the niggles of the year and put everything behind them to focus on friendly festivication. Now think of the family of David Nowak: on Saturday night David was attending a party in Stoke Newington when a gang of gate-crashers apparently bowled in. Mayhem ensued and David was one of four kids to be stabbed. Three survived, including one who is still seriously ill. David didn't. What Christmas for the Nowaks, now, or for the families of the other 25 victims, this year, of the capital's apparently incurable addiction to knife and gun-crime? It beggars imagination but we will try, through the eyes of his friends, family, the crime fighters and victim supporters. Piers is our man looking for answers.

BAA may have come up with the answer to one of the most irritating aspects of flying in or out of Heathrow - and, if they have, there are still a number of other things for them to sort out but let us not be luddites and let us praise progress when we see it. "Buy and fly" is a distant dream because "car" nearly always gets in the way. Getting to and from the longterm car-parks at Heathrow makes doing the silk route or Napoleon's march on Moscow look like strolls in the park while paying for the short-term alternative can make you feel like the Treasury sorting out Northern Rock's short-term borrowing requirement.

Harris has been testing BAA's answer which, in his gloom, he says may prove to be another Sinclair C5 or Advanced Passenger Train - on the other hand, it might be the answer to our prayers.

We all hope that lots of kids at the wonderful Great Ormond Street Hospital get the answer to their prayers: a cure and an early return home. Others will be less lucky but are guaranteed the best possible care available anywhere in the world. Depending on their taste in music , however, their treatment got either a real boost or a serious set-back today when, at their Christmas Party, some Big Names dropped by to wish them well. If it was me on Ward 6, I'd have been a happy bunny and it wasn't a Rolling Stone or two. Put it this way, after a long and winding road across the universe, this man sought to make their illness a thing of yesterday. I'll let it be at that and leave Emma to pen the harmonies.

Where, in London, did Churchill drink (that doesn't really narrow it down) but also has the only "Drive on the Right" road-way? (That should clinch it). Phil explains how you could meander through showbiz history and political intrigue whilst bidding for a bit of it all.

Bidding for a first in our studio, a man who likes to cover himself in grease and clamber through a tennis racket. Our ambitions know no limits but the cleaners have said "go easy" with this one. Will we? Be there at 6 to discover.

Papers, weather and our first schools carol round it off nicely.

It was Nina's birthday at the weekend and she brought in the remains of not one but two cakes. I went for the chocolate so expect no quarter to be given. Others went for carrot cake and are now bouncing around on their haunches and getting surprisingly amorous for a Monday afternoon. I always knew tradition went for something. "Carrot" cake? Mr Kippling would be exceedingly disapproving.

See you at.

If I can stand.

Alastair and "BD girl" Nina.

 

 

 

London Tonight Tonight Friday 14th December - 11 days to go!

Good afternoon.
Last night I had the honour and pleasure of hosting the Royal British Legion's Christmas carol concert at the Guildhall. The Guildhall has had  a serious wash and brush up and, once again, looks the gem it always was.
It had just got a bit grubby.

 

Moving on and "Duck Face" has been a longtime pin-up of mine: the fabulous Ms Anna Chancellor of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and a galaxy of other stuff. The only thing that nearly spoiled this otherwise splendidly English romp of a movie was the pay-off music , "Love is All Around".
In itself, a fine pop song.
In it's place in the movie, however, an embarrassment of a musical "marshmallow", to borrow from the Hugh Grant - Andie MacDowell wedding dress scene.
I doubt this will be one of the points Jasmine will put to the lovely boys who are Wet Wet Wet when she talks to them later but I am sure it will be coursing through your minds as they all flirt together at 6.

 

Ever lost your car-keys? Most nights, as I get over the angst of travelling with South West Trains, my frail mental state is further troubled by a search of my crowded and untidy brief-case for my own means to a final, motorised motion home. If you really lose them and need to replace them it can be a real bind. How come, then, a bunch of baddies not only forged DVLA papers and passports, but also managed to use the fakes to persuade car dealers on the continent that they were whoever the forgeries said they were, that they had lost their car-keys and that they needed new ones? And they fell for it!
I would just love to see the one who claimed he was Tara Palmer Tomkinson, for the sometime "It" girl was one of their victims. Ronke buckles up and switches to hands-free for you at 6 with the details of their quite proper collision with justice.

 

We've also the story of the couple who had a sort of collision with 'travelling people'. This is a red-rag to a bull for some of you, we know, but first hear the story and then see what you think. It involves law-abiding folk moving to a retirement idyll in Essex only to have their nirvana invaded. It got nasty and even involved decapitated squirrels: I am not saying it is headless horses in Sicily but it would concentrate your mind, wouldn't it? Moving on or holding your ground, Marcus is the man saying "seconds away, round one!"

 

Nothing festive about the footy clash of the titans this weekend: Arsene's Arsenal vs Abramovich's Blues - I know it's Avram's or Grant's but neither go as well with "Blues" as "Abramovich". Jon Gilbert, a Watford fan, gives us his considered and impartial view. (If Marcus gets within an inch of him, it'll all get "red"  but I'll try and keep an eye on things).

 

James casts his masterful eye over Enchanted and Bee Movie - the first one got the beautiful Faye all emotional in the meeting - I have always seen her as a sort of fairy Princess, anyway, so I can fully understand this touching reaction. Bee movie, we all agreed, lacked a sting in it's tail: see what James makes of it, though.

 

Salma glanced quizzically at me at the end of the meeting and just said "Shall I do it, then?" when we came to the fierce and exhausting debate which always rages over what goes into and who presents What Not To Miss. I think she has a demon plot in mind... but both you and I will just have to wait, diaries poised and, in my case, crash helmet to the fore, to find out.

 

Chrissie had better do better with the weather for the weekend or I will personally post her back to Nottingham, second class.
London's papers will try to keep up with our news belt so, all in all, it's all there to set you up for your merry, one-more-to-go-before-Christmas, weekend.

 

See you at six for musical mince pies and lovingly mulled news.

 

Alastair & Salma.

 

London Tonight Tonight: Thursday December 13th

 

Hello..

We're leading tonight with a row that's brewing at a Hindu temple. Vets came in and killed a cow while worshippers were at prayer ... and of course, cows are sacred in the Hindu religion. The vets say .. the cow was in pain. The monks say .. it was shocking and deceitful behaviour. Jon Gilbert's there.

The Household Cavalry have just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, and have been honoured with a special ceremony at Windsor .. we were there too.

The services don't just protect the nation .. they protect the very drunk too .. Marcus Powell has been finding out more about the advice members of the Royal Navy are giving to revelers on how to stay safe and out of trouble when you're out on the lash. Or should that be cat o' ninetails. Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum, say I.

Staying with our brave boys .. but this time the four legged variety .. as we visit a newly restored animal cemetery where there has been a special ceremony today to honour military animals.

We've got Jane Horrocks in the studio .. she does the voice over for various animal themed cartoons , so there is a link.. and then we visits a man who has a pet reindeer. In Enfield.

I think I better leave it there..

See you at 6.

Katie and Ben.

 

 

 

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Weds 12th Dec

Hello everyone..

 

Just think - in two weeks' time, it'll be Boxing Day.

 

Presumably, that's good news if you love or loathe Christmas. Not long to wait until it's here - or not long to wait until it's all over. Of course, it might not be such good news if you haven't started your Christmas shopping yet...

 

Now, what do we have for you in the '13 days to go until Christmas' edition of London Tonight..?

 

First up - it seems a policeman's lot is not a happy one these days. Big meetings in London today after the Government said it wouldn't backdate their latest pay deal. What do the coppers do now? Well, they've called for the Home Secretary to resign... and they're talking about going on strike. But, legally, they can't do that? So should they be allowed to. Thoughts anyone? We'll be asking for them this evening.

 

Another story that'll get you thinking is that of a two year old boy who was taken by his father to Dubai. And he never brought him back. And he should have done, you see, because not only is his mother here - the High Court has ruled she has custody and the boy's father is breaking the law. What's more, young Carl was taken back in 2003. He's seven years old now and his desperate mother hasn't spoken to him for almost 5 years.

We'll have the latest on that.

 

What else?

 

Well, one for any 'Strictly' fans out there. Would you believe there are only TWO ballrooms in London and, this evening' we'll be reporting on the possible closure of one of them. That would cut the capital's ballroom capacity by half, yes HALF.

 

Sticking with fractions, would you believe that a recent survey showed that four out the top five scariest road junctions in the country are in and around London. Which gives me a thought. Why don't we scrap the congestion charge and instead put up lots of signs saying 'FOUR of the FIVE SCARIEST JUNCTIONS are here in LONDON'. That'll keep the numbers down.

 

Sticking with scary things now and would you believe Sweeney Todd? That 's the question. I mean, do you think there really was a demon barber of Fleet Street who slit his clients' throats while his 'woman that does' turned the bodies into pies... or is it all a figment of some very strange writer's imagination. Apparently, opinion is divided on this and, what with a new film coming out early in the new year, we thought we'd look into it a little further.

 

And... AND Chrissy's going to be in a Winter Wonderland.  Cue music...

 

See you at SIX,

 

Ben

 

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: 11th Dec 2007

Good afternoon.

 

Tales of the Unexpected was a rather good TV drama series, a few years back, based on the adult books of Roald Dahl - not "adult" , as in smutty, but "adult" as in NOT 'James and the Giant Peach' or 'The BFG', brilliant though they both are. Chelsea going into a game not caring about the outcome; a fabulous, after-school club that needy kids can't afford to benefit from; tickets for some of the finest West End productions at prices you can afford; and a TV company saying we WILL put part of your school carol concert on TV! All these seemingly "unlikelies" are 'definites' tonight. Be there at 6 and feast upon them all. I feel like Santa, I do, and I haven't had my chocolate yet.

 

A little more flesh on the bones of the above - we'll preview Chelsea's home tie against Valencia in the Champions League, a prestigious tournament in which they have already qualified for the knock-out phase. (Scousers of the world, we are thinking of you. Just not too deeply, but thinking we are). Ned will also be telling us why Jose won't come back and de-McClaren the FA of its managerial hang-over.

 

An ex-Prison governor has come up with a brilliant plan for an after-hours school scheme - it is a Rolls Royce of it's kind. Problem is a new report says the kids who need these kind of things most either nick their wheels or can only afford a very old Mini. We've asked Jon to stay behind and bring you up to speed.

 

London's theatreland plays Santa from today with tickets most of you normally need a small, personal loan to buy. Steve is the man selling programmes and taking drinks orders for the interval.

 

We will renew our promise to put a selection of songs from the very best of London's school's carol concerts on air before Christmas, with no ad breaks in between. Charity begins at home and sometimes makes it all the way to work, which makes The Boss very pleased and all of us very proud.

 

Also something of a tale of the unexpected, but perchance a little more serious, is the sorry tale of the alleged attack on a homeless person by one of our favourite tv entertainers. A mixture of legal advise and my desire, like a good magician, to keep something up my sleeve, precludes my saying anymore at this stage - bar telling you there's a hint in there and that Glen is at the Groucho Club. (These showbiz types!)

 

A brilliant young footballer who pays his taxes and entertains thousands every week but is an illegal immigrant is being deported. Expected or unexpected? There's a cleaver of a question! Ronke is treading carefully for you.

 

And finally, I feel I know how King Solomon felt when asked to decide who should keep the child whose parentage was disputed or should he just cut it into two and give each party a share of the cadaver?

 

Mayor Ken called a press conference and, flanked by many strong black voices including that of Damilola Taylor's dad, slagged off the Evening Standard and Andrew Gilligan for their investigations into and attacks on Lee Jasper.

Jasper is the black man whose job is to support black groups in London, boosting ethnicity and multi-culturalism. The Evening Standard is a paper Ken has form with in fall-outs and which has published Gilligan pieces alleging Jasper has squandered council tax cash in an unaccountable way by squirting it at his mates and not asking too many questions - allegedly.

 

Ken also promised an investigation into one of the groups but it's finding won't be known for some time.

 

It is the meat and drink of London journalism but a beautiful fillet mignon, courtesy of Gordon Ramsey, washed down with a little Chateau Petrus or a feted pile of rotting veg, left late at night in Berwick Street market, sluiced down with yesterday's cold tea? I don't know but I do know Harris will do the best job anyone could do in providing you with objectives facts and letting you decide. It is the best and, frankly, only way to proceed.

 

But you'll have to be here at 6 to take part in the experience.

 

Alastair & Salma

 

 

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Monday Dec 10th

Good afternoon.

Two years ago tomorrow, and I remember it as if it was yesterday - Buncefield blew. Miles before we got there we could see the column of black, thick smoke building over Hemel Hempstead and it's hinterland. We broadcast, live, from the top of a ski-slope that night and talked to mums, dads, kids, councillors and fire-fighters. My hair was nearly as wild as the scene - one of Europe's biggest petrol depots, threatening to explode. That didn't happen but the damage done to homes, the neighbouring farmland, businesses and the general environment was catastrophic. What is staggering is the apparent delay in putting it right: some are claiming the company is considering re-opening whilst some home-owners are still to receive full compensation. We talk to one tonight and hear what Buncefield's owners have to say too.

 

Many of you may have felt entitled to compensation, too, if  you have had to travel by rail to Gatwick or Luton airports via Thameslink and their Kings Cross/St.Pancras "hub".
"How many times do I have to change trains if I am going from London to Aberdeen, via Bristol and Norwich?" is the sort of brain-teaser rail enquiry people relish.
"Where are the Thameslink platforms?" must seem mind-numbingly dull by comparison. But it is the most frequently asked  at St.Pancras/Kings Cross. We are assured all is solved now but Phil picked up an Ordinance Survey map and a compass, to check.

One of  the original St. Trinians films was "The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery", or something like that, and much of it was filmed around Farnham and Borden on the Hampshire Surrey borders. My brother went out with one of the original girls and I remember being very impressed when I met her. In the remake, Girls Aloud play some of the naughty school girls and I remember being overly unimpressed when my son, who I had taken to a Capital pop concert, didn't want to introduce me to Girls Aloud, as he happily chatted them up.  Alastair Sim was the original Headmistress, a role which falls to Rupert Everett this time, a curious consistency in gender confusion which has made panto and much of British comedy what it is and , bar Dustin Hoffman, continues to confuse most Americans. Our very real woman on the red carpet tonight is Jasmine who hopes to keep a level head as she hunts down Rupert and/or Colin Firth for your amusement and entertainment.

From an unlikely but hugely funny school to today's beacons of learning and, as the festive season approaches, so too do we. Tonight, we launch our search for the finest dulcet tones among our school children and we will feature the best of them in the week before Christmas. Scrooge, eat your heart out: we are on the side of the angels and Tiny Tim.

From Dickens "Christmas past,  Christmas present and Christmas future" we march to the Post Office, not to post our Christmas cards but to give them a yellow card. They used a converted bathroom-showroom, a few doors down from a Post Office they have recently shut,  to advertise the Post Office of the future. Locals, unamused, explain to Glen why the PO is off their present and card lists.

The Government wants getting on for two billion quid for Christmas marked "Spend it on something useful", just like our grannies used to with Christmas money. Problem is "useful" is the 2012 Olympics and "Spend it" - they already have.

Well, spent some and earmarked most of the rest, at any rate. Harris gets curious and possibly cross about 2012 "contingency money". We will be also asking for your thoughts.

Chrissie's back from the north - it must be really cold there because it is pretty nippy here.

The papers will probably be talking Afghanistan and mystery canoeists, but any more recent developments won't be on their front pages but in our news.

Tune in at 6, if you can. We do hope so.

Alastair & Emma

 

London Tonight Tonight: Friday 7th Dec

Good afternoon - it's Friday and, as I craft this missive, Salma is poised to slip off into the bright autumn air and head for an assignation about which she is very excited. I could tell you more but then I'd have to kill you - exclusives, you know. Anyway, by way of a predictable tribute to that all important sliver of scrumptiousness that is What Not To Miss, she has promised she will be back in time to craft it, as only she can - or so she says. I offered, believe me, I offered but she was having none of it. Possession may, for most of us, be nine tenths of the law but for Salma it is absolute. When I suggested I could help out, the look in her eyes pierced me like a bolt of electricity. I was left in no doubt.

As will more of London's villains be, given the latest deployment by the Met's Quartermasters. They are rolling out Tasers to more cops beyond the well trained specialists of CO19 which, we suspect, many of you will think is a jolly good idea. Indeed we will be asking for your e-mails and text messages on that very subject. But do first listen to our report at 6 and reflect on the deaf man in America who didn't hear what the police were ordering him to do so was horribly zapped and the Stateside guy with a weak heart but for whom the strength of his heart is a fatal irrelevance since he too was Tasered. It's up to you, of course. Phil is paying the electricity bill for you and warning you to keep your hands dry and not touch any appliances until they are.

On the other hand, and balance is even more important to us than exclusives, had there been even more cops about and had they had Tasers, Stevens Nyembo-Ya-Muteba might still be alive.

The ghastly tale of how a simple request for quiet cost him his life with the only upside, the outcome in court today. Ronke calls for order at 6.

The bus strike went away but the wind and the rain didn't so our transport system still fell victim to the unpredictable today. We sometimes talk about the straw that broke the camels back but tonight we have the twig that shattered the railways ability to cope. Marcus says it was quite a big twig and he does live in the country so he may know what he is talking about. My own view is unprintable but, suffice to say, some of the excuses our railways fall back upon to explain their inept, incompetent inability to run a celebratory event in an ale manufacturing emporium would need the most powerful electro-microscope to see and the sanctity of Mother Teresa to believe. But it's only a thought.

My 9 year old son's total disinterest in the film The Golden Compass is also difficult to believe though Salma thinks it is because he believes it is an "either or" dilemma with Fred Claus. I'll do both!

Anyway,James will be here to give me and you his own reasons for seeing or ignoring TGC and another cinematic offering, You Kill Me.

I just hope not too many recently taser-equipped cops go to see it before they have totally mastered the contraption.

Now, imagine you have driven all the way out to Reading for the Festival and you are carefully slotting your pride and joy between a big fat off-roader and a sliver of a sportscar.

Careful! Slow! Right a bit.. suddenly, a band strikes up, there and then, in the car park. Let's face it, you are likely to crash into one if not both of them. Imperial Leisure are a band who think that sort of thing is very funny and, to be frank, so do I. Steve tries to make sense of the senseless antics and the entirely peripatetic performance schedule of one of London's most exciting new musical offerings.

They may appear on Robin's weather maps or on tonight's front pages - you'll have to tune in to find out.

Now that I have drunk my tea and eaten my chocolate, do I sneak in and knock off an anarchic version of WNTM? Do I feel a bit like the late Ian Smith of Rhodesian infamy? Should I make a Unilateral Declaration of Independence and just go for it?

You'll just have to watch to see who wins this battle of wills.

That and more, at 6

Alastair & Salma.

Meantime, a word from The Boss -

A quick P.S. from the Editor..

Eagle eyed viewers will have spotted a Christmas tree in our GMTV bulletins this morning. Don't be surprised when it vanishes again at 6pm tonight! Christmas starts much earlier on GMTV than it does on London Tonight. It's not that I'm Scrooge-like (I've already got my tree up at home..) it's just that, for me, it doesn't quite feel right to have the tree up at six-o-clock until a bit later in the month. Anyway, if you don't get up in time to watch GMTV, then you'll have to wait a week or so to see it. It's blue - and thanks to our friends at John Lewis for lending us a tree again this year. Who knew you could get a tree in ITV blue?! Anyway, just thought you'd like to know why it's there one minute, gone the next....

 

London Tonight Tonight: Thursday 6th December

Good afternoon.

Katie asked if she might bring her wrap into the meeting. I accept it is cold but I didn't think she needed to cover her elegant neck and shoulders. How foolish I felt when I was told she was referring to a kind of Tex-Mex sweet-meat. Just goes to show how little some of us know about food.

School kids have no such problems. They know what they like and they reject and leave what they don't. Enter a brilliant Scottish chef who has just been voted school dinner laddie (check the spelling! a nearly clever gallic play on words) for cracking this perennial problem. You will be calling "Please sir, I want some more" when you see his skilled recipe for not only engaging the children in the creation of the food but also the verve with which they woof it down. Good tea-time stuff with Estelle.

Did you ever write notes, before exams, on your cuffs? Perhaps a small piece of paper, with crucial quotes for Corialanus, crammed in your knicker elastic? Ah, fond memories of youth, and pushing the boundaries of inventiveness and fraud. Well, there's a school tests scandal rocking our education system: systematic cheating - well certainly at certain schools, one of which is in Hemel Hempstead and another in Hackney.

What I think will make you spill your tea, even if it is a tightly wrapped wrap, is who has been doing the cheating. Phil Bayles puts an unlikely suspect in the corner and hears why mums and dads rather than jacks and jills are heading for detention. "It's a shokker"  -  (write that out properly, a hundred times, Stewart.)

Jerry Seinfeld was one of the most successful and certainly the most highly paid US sitcom artist for years. His vehicle was, unimaginatively called  Seinfeld, yielding millions of viewers and millions of bucks for his efforts. So when someone of that stature and success floats an idea for a movie, those in the know are inclined to listen. But Steven Spielberg... and bees? Steve has donned a black and yellow fur coat to do his Mr

Bumble act on the red carpet to see what resulted from the Hollywood hive. The office is buzzing. No, really!

I have needed cold drinks, a darkened room and a chaise lounge to rest upon since it was confirmed that the Goddess of Covent Garden and the Venus of the Valleys are both dropping by to talk "Viva la Diva". I find my joints tightening and my palms perspiring as I write 'Darcey Bussell and Katherine Jenkins are live, on the show tonight!"

Katie is also very excited but in a purely artistic sense. I share that but am also like a little boy who knows Santa HAS read his Christmas letter.

Finally, the Mayor's head of race relations, Lee Jasper, will be with us.
This is a tough one. The Evening Standard has published two articles claiming Lee's activities leave something to be desired when it comes to the selection, funding  and monitoring of certain groups in London engaged in race relations and ethnic diversity. You've probably read the articles but tonight you can hear what the target of them himself thinks. It matters because, if for no higher reason, it's your city and your money.

We'll have the latest on the threat of a bus strike over pay in East and West London - that's the buses in East and West London, not the pay. Tamsin Roberts, we welcome back, but,  as she slipped into her "clippie's cozzie", looked to me as if she wished the strike had already started.

Robin lightens your night with the weather, and thousands of light bulbs and sacks-full of singers in Trafalgar Square mean Christmas really is approaching.

As, I think, Darcy and Katherine probably are. Time for another moment of cool, calm reflection.

Up on your toes and through all those scales - we're live at 6.

Hope you join us.

Alastair & Katie.

 

  

London Tonight Tonight: Weds 5th Dec

Hello you,

 

Or should that be -

 

Dear Darlings and Lovies.

 

You see, this evening we have got more of the great and gorgeous from the sparkly world of stage and screen than you or anyone could shake a stick at. Why you'd want to shake a stick at them is another matter. Anyway, tonight we report on not one but TWO showbiz bashes.

 

First up there's the 10th Anniversary of 'Chicago' here in London. In the decade since the current production of the raunchy musical first opened at the Adelphi, it's starred the likes of Tony Hadley, Ruthie Henshall, Gaby Roslin, Nigel Planer, Ute Lemper, Duncan James, David Hasselhoff. The list goes on and a good number of them are gathering at the Cambridge Theatre tonight for a rather special performance. Jasmine's been hanging around the rehearsals.

 

And, as if THAT weren't enough, we'll also be reporting on another night of stars at the Wilton Music Hall in the East End. The place has been entertaining audiences since the 19th Century and it looks like it. It desperately needs some repair work but the problem is paying for it. So, to that end, Dame Helen Mirren and Hugh Grant are on the guest list for a little soiree. Oh, and Robin McCallum will be there, with his little face up against the window, seeing how the other half live.

 

The programme will start though on a more controversial note. ALLEGATIONS that Lee Jasper - Ken Livingstone's 'Director of Equalities & Policing' - is being investigated by the GLA after it was ALLEGED that public money has been awarded to organisations to which he or his mates are closely connected. We should point out the Mayor says nothing's been done wrong and this is simply a smear campaign. Now, we have to be very careful what's said here, but it certainly seems right to be asking:

1. Does Mr Jasper have any influence over the allocation of grants of public money?
2. IF so... to which organisations have those grants been awarded?
3. DO Mr Jasper or his mates have connections with any such companies or organisations?
4. IF so... is that right?
5. How has the public money been spent?

(I think our lawyers should be happy with that).

 

One more story we should flag up for you...and, frankly, it's the sort of story that makes everything above pale into insignificance. At first look, it's about an exhibition of children's paintings and pictures being shown at the Bankside Gallery. But all the children involved have one thing in common. They're not expected to make it into adulthood. What we have then is an exhibition of skill, truth and innocence that humbles us all.

 

See you at SIX.

 

 

Ben & Katie

 

 

London Tonight Tonight: Tuesday December 4th

Good afternoon.

Builders. Can't live with them, can't live without them. I, of an afternoon, enjoy what we laughingly call Builders Tea: PG Tips, hot-water, cold milk, full-stop. I have two cups and a bar of chocolate to fire the turbines and spark the internal combustion engine which, jointly, give me the energy to present our programme for you, alongside the naturally energetic and naturally lovely Katie.
For the last few days, I have been denied both -  (all three if you count the cups of tea separately and then the choclotae bar) - by dint of builders. Our newsroom is currently being refurbished to look like a cross between the Security Council of the UN and Quaglino's restaurant. The builders have erected blue screens to hide their architectural excesses but, in so doing, have denied us sight of the tea-trolley. I keep missing it and I am fading fast.

 

But this is as nothing compared to what their cousins have been up to at Shepherd's Bush Railway Station - a new, overground monument to the iron-horse system that serves our great capital.
A new shopping centre, a new over-land line, much expenditure and excitement, and platforms that are too narrow. "What!", I feel I hear you say. "Yes", I quip quietly back: "too narrow". The small matter of about £7m will now have to be spent to put it right otherwise the busy shoppers and commuters of SB will be standing too close for comfort to the oncoming carriages. "Stand-clear of the train" will be redundant even if annouced by the former naughty lady of the loudspeakers! Harris is hemmed in by the mob and Ken blows his top at 6.

 

We are not blowing our tops but blowing the whistle on the 12 "cons" of Christmas and are asking for your experiences of seasonal sharp practice. Our own song-bird, la belle Faye, penned the words and the London Gospel Choir deliver the Crimble Caution. Emma dons tinsle and raises her conductor's baton at 6.

 

We go on air at 6: not a moment earlier and not a moment later. People have start times for their work as a general and logical arrangement. Many start much earlier than you or I because we need their services or their vittals, later in the day. Milkmen, posties and transport workers all come to mind. So what should a butcher do when his new landlord says he can't fillet those beef cuts nor trim the pork until after 9am?  It has happened and it looks like cleavers at dawn. Robin is wearing a rather fetching blue and white striped ensemble for you and wraps it all up in grease-proof paper at 6.

 

Dolly Parton, who tends to be wrapped up in pink and frills, taught us all how to spell 'divorce' and taught us of the pain and ignomany of failed marriages, all to a rather fetching country melody. Fired up by her abundant success, she now intends to educate the world's children more generally with her Imagination Library - a book for every child! Jasmine met the mega star who Faye said describes herself as a backward Barbie but I can't remember why nor how. That, too, may be revealed at 6. Stand By Your Man was my more optimistic take but then I always was a "cup half full" rather than a "cup half-empty" man: apart from when it comes to tea in which, of late, I have been a no-cup man. Builders.

 

Politicians: "men and women of honour who stand by their word". Discuss. One of them came on the programme on Thursday and pledged to do "something" about the plight of Boyhood to Manhood, the charity generally thought to be doing good in keeping kids off the streets and away from crime." Yeah" , some of you may have thought. We've been on Keith Vaz's case. Has he been true to his word? Find out at 6. It's all rather exciting.

 

Will Robin be true to his meteorological word? Of course he will.

And will London's papers tell the truth on their front pages or will you wrap your fish and chips in them? The salt and vinegar of London's news , all just for you, at 6.

 

If I seem to be fading, send a Red Cross parcel with tea, powdered milk and chocolate.

See you at 6.

 

Alastair & Katie

London Tonight Tonight Friday 30th November

Good Afternoon to you all,

It's Friday and we have our usual end of week banter with James King about what's good on the big screen ... this weekend it's between the scrumptious Brad Pitt playing legendary outlaw Jesse James, it's an incredibly long film - more than 2 and a half hours, but is that such a bad thing? And as it's 1st December tomorrow, we have of course the first Xmas Movie offering - 'Fred Clause' starring Vince Vaughan. Ho ho ho or No no no? We'll let James explain.

And as a special Friday treat Spring has come early - we'll be asking for your help in naming a baby lamb... yes I know it's November, but no-one told this little chap - born yesterday on a farm in Leatherhead.

Plus Pub Landlord Al Murray calls Time on his Nationwide tour this Sunday - with the last of his stand-up shows at the Palladium. Good news though - he's popping in here first to join us live in the studio. Certainly not a "Time-waster".

But we start today with a truly shocking story involving the families of 7/7 victims. They've all been sent postmortem details of their loved ones through the post without any warning. Thoughtlessness, insensitivity or a clerical error? Piers Hopkirk speaks to some of the relatives. A memorial service was held today for grandmother Carmelita Tulloch. Murdered just over a year ago by a teenage, drug addicted schizophrenic. In a deeply emotional interview, her family tells London Tonight that the government should ensure people with mental illnesses are kept off the streets BEFORE not AFTER they kill.

And we have the heartwarming story of a London school choir - teaming up with orphans in Zimbabwe to record a fundraising single of 'Silent Night'. We follow them as they record their parts separately thousands of miles apart - and see how it has all been brought together.

 

Plus we reveal the final winner in our People's Millions contest.

 

Quite a packed show for the end of the week.

The only question left is - where is Ben with my cup of tea?

 

Have a good weekend,

Salma and Ben

 

 

London Tonight Tonight Thursday 29th November

Good afternoon.
In 1936 the then Prince of Wales, on seeing the poverty and desperation of the miners and their families in the South Wales coal fields said "Something must be done". It caused a real stink in Government circles but won him a place in ordinary people's hearts until his abdication. Even then, some still felt a sympathy for him, including my grandad who always referred to him as The Dook.
So, when the Home Affairs Select Committee said From Boyhood to Manhood - a charity helping keep kids out of trouble and off the streets - was worth saving they said "Something must be done". You might have thought Ministers would have learned the lessons of history.
Nope.
The charity can't get help from the Government and is set to close on 19th December. The why's and wherefore's of this short-sightedness will be charted by the wondrous Ms Wickham.
The lovely Lucy has been to New York to see how they deal with kids and gangs there. She does the Daniel Day Lewis bit at 6 with a very interesting glance at some Stateside slammers.

"Soon", " Very shortly", "Some time next year". When traditional cat-eyes have done a perfectly good job for 70 years, it is, perhaps unsurprising that there is some doubt over when their successor will be stuck into our tarmac. However, a former firefighter has come up with a solar powered replacement, it seems. Katie and I wondered, given they are solar-powered, if that might not qualify as environmental pollution. They'll be on the whole time. Badgers will take it amiss and our director, Stuart, felt it might even disrupt migrating Pelicans. I don't know what he's on but I wouldn't mind some.

Faye, all in black today, including the top part of a rather fetching dinner suit, took umbrage at our protestations claiming it only emitted a little red light. But head-lights do the trick for free and, no car - no light. We argued a bit, I must confess, and I was accused of being cantankerous! Hurt... but I soldier on and  I am sure you'll want to flash your head-lights at this on-coming argument. Marcus plays Mr Toad. Poop! Poop!

Equally dubious from that parallel universe where "off the wall" technological ideas crash into the common sense orbit of the Planet Blindingly Obvious, the "sat-lav". There you are, 'caught short' after an evening's imbibing and, being a good, non-Parisian citizen, you are not inclined to add to the unpleasant odour of an innocent doorway. But where is the nearest public loo? Press button B and this latest gizmo will reveal all. Robin found it all worked but rather too late. Embarrassment all round the pissoir at 6.

 

Finally, whistling. Stuart said he hated it - especially in men's changing rooms because it was engaged in by nervous men who probably had something to hide, he thought.
Katie said she remembers being tremendously excited when she first learned to whistle as a child.
Faye and I then showed off a bit.
We can both do the "fingers-to-the-mouth" wolf-whistle and, whilst I need both hands, 'old gorgeous' can do it with thumb and two fingers from one hand. "How cool is that", to borrow a phrase.
Anyway, we meet the man who whistles a good Michael Jackson ditty and whose determined friends want to get him to Number One this Christmas. Cliff Richard be warned. For the rest of you, lick those lips with Steve at 6.

Finally, we have thousands of pounds to give away, again, the papers to be read, and Manali on why any geraniums still not in the greenhouse might as well have been planted at Ypres or on the Somme.

Tin hats on for the cats-eyes row and see you at 6.
Alastair & Katie 
 

London Tonight Tonight Wednesday 28th November - PS. Sorry we're late... Gremlins ate a cable! Or something...

Afternoon all,

It's Wednesday. A pretty dreary one too. Grey. Grey. Grey. With a bit more grey thrown in.

 

But, are we downhearted...? Best not answer that one. Especially as a we've got one man asking us each in turn to get out of our seats - so he can do some drilling... which is nice. And then, over in the other corner, a team from building services are investigating a smell. Not just any smell, either. It's a stinker...
We've also had a technical problem or two... cup of tea anyone? Ooh, and a nice bit of music too perhaps - we're talking to 'Boyz II Men' on the programme this evening. They've shifted over 60 million records in their time - and now they're back on song with a collection of Motown classics. Just been listening to a couple of tracks. Mellow. Nice. Just what we need.

Oh the smell-hunters have gone... and taken the source of the smell with them. Don't ask.

 

Bit of breaking news - just about to sign this off and send it when it flashed on the newswire that police have charged a 41 year old man with the murder of Rachel Nickell. It's 15 years since she was stabbed to death on Wimbledon Common. You'll remember that the case against Colin Stagg was thrown out by the judge and her family have been waiting for justice ever since. Well, now Robert Napper has been accused. We'll have all the detail for you.

 

There's also the truly dreadful story of Laila Rezk - the mother battered to death in her own home by a teenager who followed her from the bus. Her son and daughter found her on the floor when they got in. They've been talking to Ronke Phillips about how they tried to save her life. It's a story that sends a chill down your spine - and your heart out to Laila's family.

 

There are a couple of very different stories about schools. In one of them, down in Crawley, a fourteen year old boy has allegedly been arrested after taking a gun into school. Yes, what you're thinking now is what we were all shouting at the programme meeting earlier. Anyway, on closer examination, it turned out to be a replica - but that's covered by the school rules too. Unsurprisingly, the staff haven't been falling over themselves to talk to us. Emma Walden has been talking to some parents this afternoon.

 

In the other, slightly more cheery story we've got a school in Fulham which has had a bit of a makeover. Well, the kids have. Recently returned to a regime of wearing blazers, the headteacher says it's a happier, better-behaved AND... more successful school. Coincidence? She thinks not.

 

And it's ITV People's Millions time... after you all voted last night, we'll be giving lots more lottery lolly away to either the Phoenix Garden in Hemel Hempstead or the Sensory Garden Annexe project in Streatham. Both wonderful projects but there can only be one winner and it's... yeah, like we'd tell you now. Even THEY don't know yet.

 

Join us at SIX - and we'll tell you and them.

Ben & Katie

 

PS Just looked out the window. It's black now! Oh dear - better watch London Tonight, we'll try to cheer you up!

 

 

London Tonight Tonight Tuesday 27th November

Good afternoon.
I think Faye has already launched the 12 days of Christmas, decked, as she is, in a spangly silver dress today. This metallic vision of festive energy opened our planning meeting with the excited claim "We've got a cracker". I thought this was another yuletide reference but, no, it was her energetic description of the programme I seek to entice you to watch from 6.

We had a fierce argument over whether we'd prefer to talk to Nicole Kidman or Daniel Craig at the premiere of Golden Compass.
Goldfinger was a Bond film so was The Man With The Golden Gun. But Golden Compass, despite the reference to precious metal and Mr. Craig's involvement, isn't.
It is the film version of Phillip Pullman's amazing children's saga said, by many, to be the heir to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It has its premiere in London tonight and we are there, still deciding who we'd rather talk to.
Salma says the Speedos win it for Daniel.
Our own Daniel , (we call him Dan The Director), and I are for Nicole purely on the basis of method-acting ability.
But we'll see. Jasmine will be there for you, saying Lights, Camera, Action!

For those coming into London by train to see it, enjoy what will soon seem like a "cheap as chips" fare.
Harris is like a saucepan full of boiling water having uncovered that South Eastern are poised to up their fares by inflation plus whatever comes into their minds. Not entirely fair but it is at least inflation plus 3% and for some folk, like the entirely innocent people of Hayes, it's 15%. SET's transparently ludicrous justification? High speed trains. Take a hike! Actually, many of you probably will, come the New Year and the new fares.

Once in town, you may hop on a pedicab to get from Charing Cross to Leicester Square. In doing so, you run the risk of either being killed or becoming one of the most unpopular road users in town, according to TfL and Westminster Council.
The Rickshaw pedal-cabs are dangerous and disruptive, they say, and licenses are the answer. Not sure about the prescription but, here in the newsroom, there's a lot of sympathy for the description of the symptoms.
See what you think as Lucy rolls up her sleeves and gets into harness at 6.

We've thousand of pounds to give away again in the People's Millions and we tell one of our two hopeful candidates from last night, that they can do even MORE good in the future with our dosh.

Christine Ohuruogu also got some great news today. The world champion, medal winning, hope-above-hope for the next Olympics was told she had won her appeal against a ban for failing to make a drug test appointment... or three.
Mixed opinions and mixed emotions on this one. You will be the judges at 6.

No mixture of emotions on Brick Lane, home to much of London's Bangladeshi community, just bitter sadness. One in twenty lost a relative in the recent cyclone. Liz meets one woman with 35 members of her extended family lost or left homeless - none of us could even think of 35 members of our own extended families. That's a bit sad, but not as sad as the good folk of Brick Lane. A moving report from Liz.

So, a cracker? I think so... But I won't say who's wearing the silly paper hat nor who's a bit of a joke - you'll have to pull it apart at 6 and make your own minds up.

We're out of the rickshaw and onto the starting blocks, waiting for the off. Be there promptly or you won't get a seat...

See you at 6.

Alastair & Salma

London Tonight Tonight Monday 26th November

Good afternoon.
Drugs have often featured in our programme and, frankly, in a pretty negative way. From the London girls in Ghana being jailed for trying to bring them here, to the debris of addicts' paraphernalia, littering our backstreets and stairwells. So, when I saw DRUGS was the title of our top story I thought what a sad start to the week. I will leave you to form your own reactions tonight but when I tell you it is about a charming lady in Bromley and involves a Primary Health Care Trust eventually doing the right thing, I believe you will be thrusting your fists in the air, victory-style. We bring tidings of great joy for Gillian Eames.

Keeping his fists to himself tonight is the star of the Thriller in Manilla. I asked Faye if that was the bloke who also advertised griddles on TV and she said "No! That's the star of the Rumble in the Jungle!"
I had no idea such a delicate beauty would know so much about heavyweight boxing. My mum was one of the grapple fans who used to enjoy Kent Walton and the Saturday afternoon wrestling but she, like most, was a middle aged woman. Faye, so young and lovely, into big men with boxing gloves at the ends of their arms? Very troubling. Anyway, Joe Frazier gives his take on curbing youth crime but not a blow is struck outside the target area. Phil wants a clean fight and calls seconds away at 6.

A young Watford football star thinks his treatment is far short of a clean fight: he faces extradition back to his native Sierra Leone where they wanted him to be a tribal chief. When he said he didn't want to do that and did a runner instead, they got seriously nasty about it. What faces him if he is "sent-off" in a pretty drastic way by HM Immigration Services, at 6.

My Uncle Jack and Auntie Chrissie lived, for years, in a  pre-fab in Letchworth. He always used to go to the pub before lunch, saying he was just going "to get some change". It was a mystery to me as a child but I think Auntie Chrissie knew what he was really up to because she seemed so happy when he fell asleep, after lunch. Anyway, sad to say, their pre-fab outlived them. Odd, that, for homesteads that were only a temporary move after the war. "Not so", say the good folk of Catford: "We've got some too that are still alive and occupied!" Emma put on her A line frock, permed her hair and danced down to Catford to the strains of Glen Miller.

Priceless, as indeed will be the reaction of our eventual winners of the People Millions: two contestants tonight and, remember, you get to play Santa Claus when all the runners and riders have been revealed.

Jools Holland reveals how wide is the range of his musical taste and his musical mates. On one album, Tom Jones, Suggs and JK, of Jamiroquai fame, to mention but three! Jools joins us live.

Live, or not, the woman who did the announcements on the tube that keep you safe but drive you mad at the same time, has been naughty. A case of mind your manners more than mind the doors, I think!
Oyster cards at the ready and we won't be limited to Zone One, I can tell you.

See you  at 6.

Alastair & Katie

 P.S. sorry about Friday's blog: someone lost the keys.

 

London Tonight Tonight Thursday 22nd November

Good afternoon.

Many years ago, when I was presenting a Sunday  programme called The Sunday Programme for GMTV (never very imaginative with their programme titles) I went to talk to a hero of mine.
He was campaigning hard for English, and especially Shakespeare, to be taught with more imagination and energy in our schools. He didn't need to as he was, even then, a terrifically successful actor but it mattered to him so he did. I liked him even more when I left his delightful home in Limehouse. I have seen him many times since at the movies (me in the audience, him on screen of course) and on television. He gets better all the time.
This is a man, however, who described one character he was playing on TV as "a washed up actor, in the twilight of his career" and who has played Widow Twankey in panto - not always a good sign. His latest role, however, is said to the actor's equivalent to climbing Everest without help or oxygen. And most of the critics say he has reached that summit with greater style, strength and glory, than many others who have gone before him.
He and his leading lady are on the show tonight and , whether or not you have guessed who I am describing, my tip is that you will not want to miss him.

Incidentally, if you want a cool, insider tip on the McClaren succession, remember the name Ken Hayes. I'll say no more than that but think second mortgages and World Cup glory in 2010.
Quite separately, but literally laterally, Annie from our forward planning desk is leaving to join Setanta, the sports channel. An act of brutal betrayal from a woman I worship. It is a flight too far.

As, say the good protestors around Heathrow, are Government plans for Heathrow. In fact, several hundred flights too far. And they tell us the consultation about a third runway at London's premier airport is as much a consultation, as teacher asking if you think it might be a good idea to do you home work; or your mother enquiring if you think it might make sense to eat up your greens. Lucy says "chocks away!" and Phil cries "grounded!" because balance is everything in journalism and aviation.

The jury in the murder trial of Anthony Joseph, who killed Richard Whelan because he asked him to stop throwing chips at his girlfriend, had to balance some very difficult evidence. In the end, they couldn't decide and the judge dismissed them. Joseph's plea of manslaughter has caused grave distress in Richard's family. Ronke has been talking to them.

Simon is still in India and has been talking to Mylene Klass who he says is absolutely stunning. She used to go to Mumbai with her family when it was called Bombay. There were slums there then and there are slums there now. Ken has been to take a look and our Transport Commissioner reveals a fascinating side to his life few of us knew about. Simon rings the bell and asks you to stand clear of the doors,at 6.

Romilly is with us tonight, back from Malta and still glowing with the success of her impromptu encounter with the Duke of Edinburgh. She assures me it was all entirely innocent. Why, then, have my friends at the Palace told me there is now a Ms Weeks Suite under construction at the Tower of London? Wrapped in ermine, for now, we'll be there for you at 6.

Alastair & Romilly

London Tonight Tonight Wednesday 21st November

Good afternoon.

One of my favourite writers is E.M.Forster and one of his finest works is A Passage to India. In Sir David Lean's stunning film adaptation, Sir Alec Guiness plays Godbole and there is a celebrated scene in which a very crowded train pulls out of a very crowded station and, standing alone and utterly still, with his hands held in front of his heart in prayer mode, is the enigmatic Godbole.
"Clever old bugger" is how Lean described Guiness's serene performance in this powerful piece of simple, understated acting.

Imagine, if you will, the scene in India yesterday when our Mayor wanted to do a "Godbole" but someone had mentioned, in passing, that Ken was going to be on the Delhi to Mumbai express. Serenity went out the window, as nearly did our cameraman Kevin. 80 film crews mounted the rolling stock, thousands of Indians, anxious to catch sight of this celebrated revolutionary turned democratic municipal leader, that it all went "buffers up" in a frantic cacophony of iron-horse lunacy. We were there! Ken found time to clap the clapper board and to plead with the Indian authorities to buy the media centre at the 2012 Games park and to turn it into a post-2012 subsidiary of Bollywood. He put the idea to one of Bollywood's biggest stars.
The Big Boss, incidentally, said he thought the "Ken on a Train in India" scene sounded no different to the "Him on the Northern Line" scene at 8am any Monday morning.
Harris of the Subcontinent continues to do his Clive of India number for you at 6.

I think someone will make a film of our top story: last winter, 2 teenagers from north London were stopped at Accra airport in Ghana and, far from having Dell or Sony's finest in their laptop bags, they were found to have a third of a million quid's worth of Columbia's finest nestling up to their modems. They were found guilty of the cocaine smuggling today and are likely to learn next month that it will cost them the next three years of their lives in a ghastly, young offenders institution in West Africa.
Liz takes an impartial line on what is either a tearjerker or a case of 'reaping what you sow'.

Talking of which, I'd have thought we should be doing everything we can to be nice to the Croatians. They have qualified for what Ken assures me is called Euro 2008. So, tonight, they could just stand there, admire the view, let Peter Crouch pop one past them and do his odd dance. Job done, if they wanted to be nice to us. But we have to earn it. So, by way of a cleverly planned welcome, I am sure, one of our brave lads in blue lifted the head of the Croatian FA, at Gatwick Airport, on suspicion of shop-lifting from W.H.Smith. In the old days of Soviet satellite states, a free press was worth risking your life for but nowadays, frankly, no Croatian is going to risk their liberty for a copy of the Daily Mail or even the Sun. Marcus screams "Read All About It" at 6.

Also screaming at 6, the parents of the pupils at a school for deaf children in Camden. Sadie Frost's niece is a pupil and she joins the noisy throng with Glen who, I hope, won't get lost in the crowd.

Steve talks to Nigel Havers and we talk to Bobby Davro about panto. Oh no we don't, I said at the meeting. Oh yes you do, said Faye, my own vision of Cinderella. Your career, Alastair: it's behind you, said Katie...

 

Tracey Emin goes to church, in itself a potential lead story I'd have thought. She comes back with some beautiful images of her favourite place in London.
Robin has made his bed with his forecasts so he'll have to lie in it tonight.
I hope he doesn't need to wrap up in the papers once we have read you the front pages: it is getting cold out there.

Thinking of Ken and his Indian summer? The crowding will convince you the place to be, is with us... at 6.

 

Alastair & Katie

 

London Tonight Tonight Tuesday 20th November

Good afternoon.

 

Car keys, left socks and mobile 'phones: I am always losing them or misplacing them. But, as I write, I am listening to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explain to the House of Commons how someone who works for him has lost or misplaced the personal and financial details of anywhere between 7 and 25 million people. And what makes it funnier, if it weren't so serious, is that it was lost .....    in the post.
A government, fit for the C21st that promised an "information super-highway"! You wouldn't trust them with changing a plug, would you?

They should all have gone to the Science Museum with Liz today: and the kids Liz met there would probably make a better fist of it than those little darlings that sit on the green leather benches of Westminster. Liz and the kiddies get all touchy feely at 6, in the interests of science.

Not a lot of science involved in the Congestion Charge: cameras spot you going in: if you pay, cool. If you don't, they fine you and fine you big. They banked a pretty £95 million in the last period from goons like me who occasionally forget to pay in time. Well, one of our guests tonight has the answer, we think. If you already have a GPS then your resistance  will be low. Tune in and you may hear something to your advantage. Unless you are the Mayor.
He can't tune in, as it happens, because he is still in India. And he has gone underground. Not politically, but physically. We reveal what he found in the dark, dank depths of  Delhi. Harris is our man with the teeming masses.

Child prodigies come and go: they have a sort of built in obsolescence like light-bulbs and iPods. Shirely Temple went on to be a UN Amdassador, but so did Geri Halliwell so perhaps that's irrelevant. Michael Portillo and Martyn Lewis were in TV ads as children and then had very successful careers elsewhere.

So what of Freddie Highmore? Well, at the ripe old age of 15 he has already been there and done it at the peak of Hollywood - egged on by no less a star than Johnny Depp. He started at 7 so, for more than half his life, he has been a successful actor and he is still 3 years short of voting, a year short of joing the army, and 3 years short of going, alone, to one of the horrid, naughty, violent films the big boys make. Like Mr. Depp. Freddie, in good boy mode, joins us at 6 to talk about his latest showing on the silver screen.

And , all over London, the lights are going on: we shall not see them off again in this year's lifetime. 

Tonight, it's Regent Street and there is science involved, it seems. Something to do with motion, movement or maybe magic - I don't know but nor, I fear, did the luminously lovely Faye when she attempted to explain it to us at our planning meeting. But she was very excited and assured us Glen had O level physics. Or GCSE. Or CSE. Perhaps a Scout Badge?

 

See you at 6.
Alastair & Katie

 

London Tonight Tonight Monday 19th November

Good afternoon.
Many of you have often expressed the view when we have invited e-mails that you would like Ken Livingstone to "get lost" or, at least, "go away". He has done the latter but, according to Simon Harris, not yet the former. Both men are in India - Simon, at modest cost to our coverage budget with his camera-man, and Ken at a cost of £750,000 with a big retinue.
We just wondered why and whether it was worth it. So, we are exploring that all this week for he, the Mayor, is there all this week. Simon is the man with the calculator and sends his first electronic postcard at 6.

When I studied economics, you always began an essay with the Latin words ceteris paribus which mean "all things being equal". They never are.
House prices can rise while house price inflation falls. It means the rate at which those prices are rising is falling.
Mud is a good comparator of clarity here but I know Louisa will shine a light through it all, and end up with really useful information for you.

How useful our next report is will depend on two things: 1 - are you a dog? 2 - do you have a dog you really love but who seems, currently, unloved?
I like Gucci; Dan "The delicious Director" thought he used Chanel but then remembered he was a Hermes man; Faye "for she is gorgeous" wears Bulgari; Katie, naturally stunningly alluring, nevertheless favours just a touch of  Chanel Crystal.
Back to the canine connection - tonight, Piers reports on perfume for pooches.
Honest.
No "I smell a rat" gags thank you: it is true. He'll be dabbing his wrists at 6 for what The Boss said was "The most ridiculous story, ever".

A theme I warm to in conclusion: before they were the Beatles and, I think, before they were even the Quarrymen, the Beatles won a talent competition. They went on to become chart-topping recording artists and then became actors in Help! and A Hard Day's Night.
Elvis was also a chart-topper and then actor but, unlike two of the Beatles, neither got shot nor developed cancer: he just got very fat and died on a toilet.
Richard Fleeshman has a different chronology: began life as an actor who went on to win a talent contest and now wants to become a recording star. He joins us tonight amid some interesting pre-judgments: "A dreamboat", "He's not bad" and "Better than expected". Finally, and most troubling ,given one of his offerings is 'Sitting on the dock of the bay', "Otis Redding needn't turn in his grave".
I am sure he is very good but you can be the judges when he pops in off The Street at 6.

 Robin, naturally fragrant, wants me to add my wellies to my vests - an ominous warning as I prepare my winter wardrobe.

See you at 6 - I smell a success.

Alastair & Katie

 

London Tonight Tonight Friday 16th November

Good afternoon.
A taxi driver just told me he watched us on the news "all the time". Worrying, from a man plying his trade at 30mph but a nice thought. He said I made lots of "gestures" which he liked... well, tonight I may be making quite a few angry gestures. I might "wave a fist" at whoever "dognapped" Ruby, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Ruby looks after her master, a young boy who suffers from epileptic seizures. Ruby warns the lads parents of an impending attack and even helps keep the kid's head up when he is having convulsions. So, give the dog back, please. Robin is following all leads.

 

I may be inclined to give the "thumbs up", however, to the Met who have called a Gang Warfare Summit in the wake of the 23rd shooting of a young Londoner. We also talk to the friends of the young victim. Ronke is our shoulder to cry on.

 

Another "fist shaker", however, in Carshalton where yobs have been persistently fire-bombing an Indian family's home and shop. The cops were invited in and the "scroats" (Faye's inelegant yet strangely accurate word, not mine) fire-bombed the family car when no-one was looking! Glen, clad in asbestos, heads south-west for you.

 

Rumours circulated that Amy Winehouse had died. She hasn't. She is on her way to Glasgow. But, after last night's performance, she may give Glasgow audiences a near-death experience unless she's sorted herself out.
Very much alive and well and gaining a "double-thumbs-up" from most of the collective, however, is Rick Astley.
No?
You, like me, scouring the memory discs?
Well, suffice to say that when we played his back-tracks, the control room all started bopping. You will remember and you will enjoy.

 

One thumb up and one down for our movies, me thinks, though James may take a different view. The thoughts of the Master on American Gangster (Yo!) and Brick Lane (No!) at 6.

 

Robin on why I was right to check out where I had put my vests away, last winter, and the papers with, I suspect, the Amy Winehouse rumours: that  should round if off nicely.

 

Romilly joins me tonight and, despite my saying I was a more regular presenter than her, and that she has had lots of coverage with her brilliant reports from the Princess Diana inquest, she insists on doing What Not To Miss.
I think she's been talking to Salma.
It is a conspiracy that has earned an angry gesture not even my new taxi-driver friend will like.

 

See you at 6 by which time I hope we will be talking to each other.

 

Alastair and Romilly. 

 

London Tonight Tonight Wednesday 14th November

Good afternoon.
We should have put the cameras in our planning meeting today.
We had a right old row  -  no other way of describing it - about poverty.
"Bong": 41% of London children live in poverty. Now what image does that conjure up in your mind? The author is mad, can't count, is a revolutionary, anarcho-syndicalist or .....  a sound judge of social deprivation in Blair-Brown's Britain?
And what do we mean by poverty? Absolute poverty, relative poverty, or social exclusion?
Before you switch channels and enjoy a cartoon, let me tell you this: I was among the doubting Thomas brigade until I saw Emma's report. Two "clients" of the Salvation Army in the 2007 London we love and admire, that will make your toes curl. Give us the chance and honour of shining a lttle light for you on something that will surprise, shock and I suspect sadden you.

 

Remember the MMR row? Measles, mumps and rubella? Lots of parents said over my dead body - bad choice of cliche, that.
The numbers of kids not getting the jab has jumped and medics are increasingly worried about the implications for the health of our little loved ones. Liz is our Florence Nightingale.

 

Phil went to Waterloo, Brussels and St Pancras all in the space of 18 hours. No duty frees these days but quite a tale and a record breaking run, to boot.  We've let him keep the green and red flags for having done so well.

 

Look out for a Red Ford Torino outside our studio turning into a three masted pirate ship as an icon of 70s TV turns into the rogue of J.M.Barrie's brilliant romp. It helped support Great Ormond Street Hospital for years so it is a good thing. And apart from the clothes and hair-styles, so was the TV show. All will become clear as we take you to never-never land - and I don't mean Hollywood.

 

We also have the fattest hedgehog in the world - George. You may have seem him in the papers but we have him live, with Robin.

 

I am very excited.

 

Alastair & Nina