Delhi's nightlife sure doesn't rank up there with that of Mumbai. But
in recent years India's capital has seen a clutch of new places open
up, some lasting longer than others. Indeed, one of the newest
nightspots, Six Month Story, appears to poke fun at the short-lived
nature of some of these places.
The venues are all pretty pricey and
attract a young, middle-class clientele of India's professionals. But
is there a darker side to it all?
I ask after reading of an incident in
which a young woman from India's north-easy was refused entry to one of
Delhi's trendiest clubs, Urban Pind, allegedly on the basis of her
ethnicity.
Mia Farrow, unlike many of the prominent Darfur activists, cannot be accused of not spending time in the field (when was your last visit, Matt Damon?).
She has visited Darfur and Chad on countless occasions and has even made two trips to Central African Republic (CAR), a country few people even know exists, let alone decide to spend a few days in.
But in her attempt to bring some much-needed attention to CAR she has chosen an odd ally.
Farrow has been named as an ambassador of CAR by President Francois Bozize and, according to a fascinating piece in the New Yorker, is introducing him to New York's hoipolloi at fancy cocktail parties held in exclusive members' clubs:
"In the plush cool of Doubles, President Bozize greeted Ambassador
Farrow warmly. "She knows the country better than the President
himself!” he announced to the assembled guests."
Gordon Brown has said he is "very disappointed" that MPs voted against plans to curb their "second home" expenses. His remarks have surprised some Labour MPs, who say there was an unofficial Brown whipping operation to oppose the proposed shake-up. "We have two whips offices - the Government one headed by Geoff Hoon [chief whip] and the Brown whips office led by Nick Brown [deputy chief whip and a close ally of the PM]," my Labour mole tells me. "The same thing happened on 42-days detention. The Brown whips office even held their own party after the vote to celebrate the narrow victory."
Like Christmas, the Etape arrives so much quicker than you think it will. Back in the winter, slogging through the Hertfordshire rain, the challenge of the amateurs' stage of the Tour de France seems so far off that it's hard to keep the goal in focus. Things stay like that for quite a long time. Then they start to speed up - and now the big day on Sunday is hurtling towards me.
The ride will be spectacular - 160kms from Pau to the top of the Hautacam, one of the great Pyrneneean ascents, via another, the Col du Tourmalet. Back in 1993, on holiday nearby, I watched the Tour go over the Tourmalet. It was a Miguel Indurain year. I can still picture the moment the riders came into view, far away in the valley below. I never imagined then that one day I'd cycle up the same road myself.
It's going to be a very chilli summer this year, due to a low front of Sichuan cooking coming in from the west of China. Babies and those who like it mild are advised to stay indoors. The rest of us can head for Angeles in Kilburn, Snazz Sichuan in Euston, Red 'n Hot in Manchester and the West End, Red Chilli in Leeds and Manchester, Bar Shu in Soho, and the new Baozi Inn in Chinatown.
If I hadn't known Baozi Inn was from the people who own Bar Shu, I would have thought it was just another cheap, cheerful, mediocre Chinatown noodle bar. But the woody, folksy, hutong-like interior and Mao-inspired knick-knackery shows a bit of humour, something of a rarity in Chinatown, and the picture menu of Beijing and Sichuan street food tells the real story.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former UN secretary-general, is one. Nessim, the husband of Justine, the fictional character in Lawrence Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet was one. I'm talking about Egypt's Coptic Christians, the community of up to 10 million souls - 10 per cent of the population - who are the target of persecution and discrimination.
The number of violent incidents against the Christian minority is on the rise. The discrimination starts with Egyptians identifying their religion on passports and ID cards, and continues through the education system, while converts from Islam to Christianity lose their inheritance rights.
There's no doubt that Solid Snake's final adventure (although not, apparently, the final Metal Gear Solid) is a fantastic achievement - the sheer ambition of the game is
unsurpassed. Whether it's your cup of tea, of course, is a different
matter and it remains unapologetically a game for fans only. Not keen on the
previous incarnations? Well, it's probably best to stay away from this one as well.
I had an email yesterday from a "deeply exasperated" reader who had the misfortune to encounter someone on the internet displaying bigoted, racist views on YouTube under a video of Jay-Z's Glastonbury performance, and wondered what he could do about it. A fairly straightforward query – but one that made me think long and hard.
I suddenly realised that through spending inordinate amounts of time online for both work and leisure, I've almost become impervious to this kind of thing. I see mindless, ill-considered and offensive comments everywhere I look, and I've somehow developed the ability to ignore them, to automatically filter them out. But this email suddenly made me wonder if I shouldn't be fighting back.
I just finished writing a piece on celebrity assistants (the people who hold Mariah Carey's bottle of Evian, get thwacked by Naomi Campbell's mobile phone, etc), which required me to exchange messages on Facebook with Roseanne Barr's former PA Becky Pentland.
Becky's an interesting one, since she also happens to be married to Roseanne's ex-husband Bill Pentland. Yesterday, she emailed to say that, despite this strange love triangle, she and Roseanne "remain family and friends."
MPs missed an opportunity to clean up their act tonight when they voted on their own pay and expenses. They bowed to Gordon Brown's pressure by holding down their pay but then threw all the possible benefits away by voting to keep their present "second homes" allowance, including the infamous "John Lewis list" which allows them to claim for furniture and fittings. That will mean more bad headlines tomorrow which will only reduce the standing of politicians in the public's minds even further. Not so much snouts in the trough but falling headfirst into it.
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