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After 5 years of cancellations and false starts, we finally completed the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race last weekend, the longest non-stop canoe race in the world. We completed the 108 miles in just over 20 hours. Unfortunately the race was forced to stop 17 miles short of Westminster due to...

That was him shamelessly trying to hang on to his Surrey seat. Even here, it won't be a vote winner.

I did an coroner's inquest jury a few years ago, which is slightly different, but I was actually quite impressed with how seriously everyone took it and how keen they were to get it right. Of course there were a range of personalities, backgrounds and abilities but I think that's the point of a...

I don't go often enough to leave early, the exception being Fulham away in 2012, 5-0 in the pissing rain with a seat nowhere near a roof. The pubs of west London were a much more enticing prospect.

I'm in training for the Devizes to Westminster canoe (kayak) race at Easter. 125 miles non-stop, 22 hours (assuming things go well). Death seems quite a real possibility at this point.

I got a dry robe for Christmas for when I finish kayak things. Bloody lovely it is. But I would never in a million years consider wearing one in normal life.

Guildford's been true Blue in all but 3 elections since 1865. Last time we flipped to the LDs was in 2001. But it's a strong Remain area and Richardson has been hiding since Covid. The LD's are very active and Zoe Franklin is an excellent candidate. All the anyone-but-Tory vote will go to her, I...

I'd be astonished if the Tories manage to hold on to Guildford just down the road from you. But we're a marginally more diverse community than Epsom. ;)

I'm not sure any prolific director is going to be seen as mojo-full as their early glory days. I'd still rather watch a new Scorsese than a film by almost any other director, even if it's unlikely to be another Mean Streets.

I think there are a few good ones since Casino in '95. The Departed, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Bringing out The Dead are all worth watching. I loved Wolf of Wall Street. Shutter Island was a dud though.

I felt similar about the Irishman tbh. I'll watch his regular actors do the dishes for three hours but both are a bit ponderous.

Yep. Good (if awful) story, great performances but you feel every minute of the running time. Oppenheimer was long but didn't seem it, this one really drags.

I was at the first night of the National at Ally Pally. I was gutted when I saw the setlist of the second night. But I'm sure I'd have been gutted the other way round too!

I went to see Deep Purple at Wembley Arena in 1987 (they were shit, but that's another story) - it cost £9.50, which at the time seemed very expensive! That's around £34 in today's money according to an online calculator thingy. You can also now buy a ticket stub for that gig for £29.

But governments, national or local, are elected to govern, and sometimes need to do unpopular things. Buttons will be pushed, and toys will be ejected from 4x4 prams but there is a pretty good consensus on what will happen - is already happening - if we don't make significant changes and fast...

That's an empathy that's conspicuously lacking in that group when it comes to other issues that affect poor people. They're using it as convenient stick to beat the left with. I suspect the actual reason they rail against green policies is that they don't like governments telling them what they...

The Woman in the Wall on the iPlayer. Really good drama about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. Loses its way a bit in the final episode as it rushes to wrap things up but it's generally excellent. And I'd happily watch Ruth Wilson just reading numbers from an old telephone directory.

Holocaust memorial is very moving. The Reichstag is worth a visit, as is what remains of the Wall. The best thing we went to though was the Stasi museum which is the old Stasi HQ in the east of the city. Much of it is left exactly as it was in the Cold War days. It's fascinating.

I saw Bobby Gillespie twat an audience member with a mic stand when onstage with J Mascis and The Fog. In mitigation, the bloke had just spat at him.

And just female worker honeybees, which have barbed stingers. Nearly all other bees have smooth stingers which don't get stuck in a mammal's skin.