London Tonight Tonight

Afternoon,

I fear all my joking about swine flu has given me bad karma and in turn a bad cold. I say bad - it's just a sniffle really - better a sniffle than a pig like snort you see. The other half had it - and was dying like all men with man flu are and repaid my nursing duties by passing it on to me. I was the one who was in need of nursing after a mouth op left me unable to speak and too swollen to grace your screens - but glad to be back now albeit a little snotty!

But, for all my sniffles today I don't really have anything to complain about - unlike people living in much less fortunate circumstances in our great city. Although I'm sure many people living in poverty don't complain even when they have more than enough reasons to. In fact, as you'll see in our 3 special reports tonight many don't just get on with it - they rise above and aim for the stars. Liz Wickham's been to the school in one of our poorest areas which is churning out kids destined for Oxbridge. Glen Goodman's looking at the rich-poor divide in Haringey and Mark Thatcher's investigating life on London's Living Wage.

Before that we've the second 7/7 report. The headlines are - security services too stretched - missed opportunities - but MI5 not to blame for letting one of the bombers slip through the net. Simon Harris has the questions and answers on all that.

Right now, what I have is a nice cup of tea - Al's just commented on the quality of his cup of tea too. I think tea really does have the power to make you feel better - seems to be working for both of us right now anyway.

Al's glued to the TV - and was on it not so long ago announcing the Speaker's resignation - fascinating stuff - especially for people like Al, who live and breathe politics. Will have to work extra hard to get his attention today - I may well have to head out for emergency Turkish Delight.

But back to the show - and Marcus is down at Harrods - not picking up treats for us - but checking out Mohamed Al Fayed's son's contribution to the Knightsbridge store. Karim's been deaf since the age of two and is turning his experience into a part of the business.

Then Bill Clinton's getting rid of a roundabout. The former US President's backing a project to create carbon neutral cities - and they want to try it out in Southwark. Not sure where the roundabout comes into all this but I'm sure Damien Steward will fill us in later.

There's also JLS - remember the runners-up on X-Factor last year. The cheeky boys will hopefully be behaving themselves around Lucy - she's been to see them shooting their first video. They were so popular on the show - only just being beaten by Alexandra. Lucy's the one with the showbiz knowledge so she'll be able to tell us if it sounds like a hit.

Then unfortunately that's it.

See you at 6.

Alex & Alastair.

Weather blog

Good evening,

There's nothing like a broken appliance for sorting out the wheat from the chaff. The office dishwasher has recently been out of service for a fortnight & it's been interesting to watch the standards of kitchen cleanliness gradually deteriorate during that time. For the first couple of days things didn't look too bad but then it all nosedived. It started with a handful of unwashed mugs & quickly became a train wreck of abandoned crockery, spillages & overflowing waste bins. Some people were able to ignore the horror, some seemed unaware of it & some (the minority) snapped, complaining loudly at an epidemic of such slovenliness. Luckily the repair man worked his magic moments before it turned really ugly.

I'm rather sad it's all been resolved as my colleagues have returned to venting their frustration by moaning at me about the weather -the strong winds, the showers etc.etc.- & are no longer preoccupied by the student digs style kitchen area. As we inch towards another Bank Holiday weekend the meteorological stakes get higher & higher (currently there's the promise of it staying dry & cloudy) but if things don't look substantially perkier over the next couple of days I may well indulge in a spot of domestic sabotage in a bid to shift the focus once again....

See you later,

Robin.