Good afternoon.
It's another weekend and The Boss has just returned from the optician with doughnuts. I don't know what he meant to buy and maybe he needs stronger glasses but colleagues are forming a disorderly queue at his desk even as I type. One is never enough for me but, after two, I behave like an electric ferret all afternoon and then fall asleep on the train home.
Oh well. Instant gratification , that's the thing.
Well, not always.
"Life wrecking, skin harming, nose rotting, brain burning, money spinning, death causing - coke".
It certainly gives it's users instant gratification and it's production starts quite innocently with naturally growing coca leaves. But once the bad guys have blended in petrol, ether and hydrochloric acid it becomes an evil stimulant that gives a buzz before, for many, starting a downward spiral which can ruin lives and even end them.
So tonight, as a gang from Essex and Surrey are sentenced for trafficking the stuff, we are taking a look at the drug and how common it and it's use are in the capital. Glen's investigation uncovers the nightmare of Kiddy Coke and he will reveal the results of his own survey of some Soho Clubs last night. It'll blow you away.
As will James' review of the movies which features "3.10 to Yuma" in which the Glorious Gladiator turns Glorious Gunslinger: Mr, Crowe meets the OK Coral... plus, "Superbad" which sounds super-good but in a slightly silly way.
Steve Hargrave suggests to Daniel Radcliffe, recently a gifted yet occasionally irritating mini-wizard and even more recently a sort of streaker in a play about a horse, that all you need to do to master the Australian accent is "go up" at the end of every sentence. Imagine Daniels reaction, given he has just spent six months and a lot of money mastering the Oz brogue with an expensive voice coach! The "whys and wherefores" to it all will become as clear as Sir Les Paterson's diplomatic skills at 6.
We will also have the latest on foot and mouth in Surrey and an intriguing suggestion about plastic carrier bags in the capitol.
Robin is on the river with the weekend weather forecast and we'll have the papers' front pages.
I will also have the great pleasure tonight of working with a new friend, Salma Siraj, who you will have seen reading the early morning news. Her mum's Swiss. So is my favourite pen. I know we will hit it off like a dream.
Be your own judge at 6.
Alastair & Salma
