Sunday, January 02, 2005
Guess who is coming to dinner
Forty Eight hours enforced separation from a computer can be purgatory for an addict like myself but fortunately the withdrawal symptoms were eased by a very pleasant stay in the West Wales town of Laugharne. Although still famous for housing Dylan Thomas' boathouse, the town hit the headlines in 2004 for its connections with Neil Morrissey. Other famous people who have visited it on a regular basis include Pierce Brosnan and Jimmy Carter.
It is a beautiful town and boasts several top class restaurants as well as a picturesque estuary and castle and a number of high quality hotels and guest houses. It is a shame that it does not have an internet presence in its own right as it would become much wider known and visited by a lot more people. They would certainly enjoy the hospitality. We spent New Year's eve in the Stable Door Restaurant and Morrissey's New Three Mariners Pub, where an Irish band played us into 2005. Afterwards there was dancing in the town square and the odd firework or two. On New Year's Day we ate in the excellent Portreeve Restaurant.
Meanwhile, the subject of hospitality seems to have hit the press with details of Tony Blair's entertaining at Chequers revealed into today's Observer. The list reads like a who's who of the great and the good and a useful roll-call of who is favoured at the "new camelot". The name that stood out for me was the former editor of The Sun, David Yelland but also Dominic Lawson, Marjorie Scardino, Albert Scardino and Lord Hollick. They are all have connections with newspapers that have not been kind to Labour in the past.
The Observer, like Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Lamb, highlight the hospitality offered to cigarette manufacturers. The article records that "the Chequers roll-call shows that Blair used taxpayers' money to entertain French millionaire Alain-Dominique Perrin, a key director of the luxury goods firm Richemont. The company - whose brands include Dunhill and Cartier - owns a £3 billion stake in British American Tobacco." They go on:
"The confirmation that Blair wined and dined Perrin at Chequers will only fuel the already bitter row that surrounds Blair's links with the cigarette industry. He is currently facing a parliamentary investigation over his failure to declare the holiday he and his family took in 2002 when they stayed at Perrin's 15th-century chateau in the south of France.
Shortly after Blair became Prime Minister, Labour was forced to return a £1 million donation from the Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone after it emerged that he had lobbied Blair to delay a ban on the sport being sponsored by the tobacco industry. The Tories are linking the Blairs' relations with Perrin to the government's decision to stop short of outlawing smoking in public places."
The links between past American Presidents and Hollywood has long been noted in the press. Less noted is how the fascination with the glitter and glamour of showbusiness is a common theme for leading politicians. Hence the Blair's wining and dining of Geri Halliwell, Michael Ball, Trevor Brooking, Jim Capaldi, Lord Lloyd Webber, Des O'Connor, Esther Rantzen, Jenny Seagrove and Jodie Wilson. It is an interesting list. I wonder what they talked about.
It is a beautiful town and boasts several top class restaurants as well as a picturesque estuary and castle and a number of high quality hotels and guest houses. It is a shame that it does not have an internet presence in its own right as it would become much wider known and visited by a lot more people. They would certainly enjoy the hospitality. We spent New Year's eve in the Stable Door Restaurant and Morrissey's New Three Mariners Pub, where an Irish band played us into 2005. Afterwards there was dancing in the town square and the odd firework or two. On New Year's Day we ate in the excellent Portreeve Restaurant.
Meanwhile, the subject of hospitality seems to have hit the press with details of Tony Blair's entertaining at Chequers revealed into today's Observer. The list reads like a who's who of the great and the good and a useful roll-call of who is favoured at the "new camelot". The name that stood out for me was the former editor of The Sun, David Yelland but also Dominic Lawson, Marjorie Scardino, Albert Scardino and Lord Hollick. They are all have connections with newspapers that have not been kind to Labour in the past.
The Observer, like Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Lamb, highlight the hospitality offered to cigarette manufacturers. The article records that "the Chequers roll-call shows that Blair used taxpayers' money to entertain French millionaire Alain-Dominique Perrin, a key director of the luxury goods firm Richemont. The company - whose brands include Dunhill and Cartier - owns a £3 billion stake in British American Tobacco." They go on:
"The confirmation that Blair wined and dined Perrin at Chequers will only fuel the already bitter row that surrounds Blair's links with the cigarette industry. He is currently facing a parliamentary investigation over his failure to declare the holiday he and his family took in 2002 when they stayed at Perrin's 15th-century chateau in the south of France.
Shortly after Blair became Prime Minister, Labour was forced to return a £1 million donation from the Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone after it emerged that he had lobbied Blair to delay a ban on the sport being sponsored by the tobacco industry. The Tories are linking the Blairs' relations with Perrin to the government's decision to stop short of outlawing smoking in public places."
The links between past American Presidents and Hollywood has long been noted in the press. Less noted is how the fascination with the glitter and glamour of showbusiness is a common theme for leading politicians. Hence the Blair's wining and dining of Geri Halliwell, Michael Ball, Trevor Brooking, Jim Capaldi, Lord Lloyd Webber, Des O'Connor, Esther Rantzen, Jenny Seagrove and Jodie Wilson. It is an interesting list. I wonder what they talked about.
