John Smith – Hotel Diaries


Legendary Leytonstone film-maker, John Smith, is screening a selection of his sequence of Hotel Diary videos at Tate Britain today – followed by a Q&A.
This also gives me an excuse to plug the essay I wrote about John Smith and Ian Bourn’s films for UEL’s ‘Rising East’ journal of East London studies.
I’m hoping to organise a retrospective of John Smith’s Leytonstone films for the Leytonstone Film Club at some point next year

london

Comrade Banker

Bail-out deal means curbs on executive pay and dividends | Business | The Guardian

In a slight deviation away from the usual tone of this blog, I’m feeling amused and polemical after reading today’s paper. It’s interesting the see the moderate language used by the Government in relation to the banks that will be effectively nationalised with £500 billion of our money. City bankers will hopefully be looking forward to now being spoken to in the same manner as the rest of the much-maligned public sector “wreckers” in the words of dear departed Tony Blair.
Will City Bonuses be replaced with Public Sector Pay Freezes. Will the coke-snorting fat cats be seen giddily casting block votes at Labour Party Conference. Will there be beer and sandwiches at Threadneedle Street. Flat caps on the trading floor of the London Stock Exchange. Strong sweet Yorkshire tea in place of caramel lattes made from Black Mountain coffee beans. Will the tweed jacket with leather elbow patches so beloved of Geography teachers across the land become fashionable in the champagne bars of the square mile that will switch to serving best bitter. Will Fair Trade replace Free Trade. Will public sector solidarity mean that the City of London will rally to the aid of the Palestinian Territories and trading in Coca Cola suspended in support of murdered Colombian trade unionists.
Probably not eh?