A posh-sounding Northumbrian

From the bbc.co.uk/bbctwo home page:

And here's that quote in full:

train prior to 0824 cancelled, 0824 running 4 carriages short, due to earlier broken down train, according to screen. Standing room early. No on-board announcements.

Update: announcement at Liverpool St said it was a fatalitity at Harold Wood, not broken down train

Brian Paddick on Sky News this morning appeared to play down standing for the Lib Dem Presidency, while giving some clues that he is hopeful of a Westminster seat.

If he does end up standing for the Presidency, as an eligible voter in that election I would have to choose between him and Ros Scott - both of whom have very significant strengths.

Brian would certainly also bring specific ouside experience to the Lib Dem parliamentary party, with greater credibility on dealing with crime and social disorder.

I was delighted to welcome Bristol-based creative company Silicon 19 (website perpetually under construction!) Silicon 19 to the University to produce a promotional web video of our graduate degree shows.

These annual exhibitions are a showcase of the best creative talent to graduate that year, and we wanted to not only show them off but be able in future years to give people a sense of what it is like to visit a degree show. Universities are not always good at welcoming the general public in off the street, so anything that gives a snapshot of what life is like behind the walls of Higher Education can only be a good thing.

Silicon 19 have recently launched an agressively priced 'baby projects' offering for one day's filming, and one day's editing by a single multi-skilled operative. Though we upgraded slightly to a 'toddler project' with a two-man team, I think the video below shows that they are real value for money.

What I particularly like about Silicon 19 is their ability to take a brief and work in a natural, organic way to achieved the desired result. None of the interviews in the video above are scripted. They're all the result of natural conversational questioning by Greg Browning, a video producer I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to others. He's a pleasure to work with.

You can see the video in situ here, along with a photo gallery from each of the degree shows.

Their greatest hits

Other work I've seen by Silicon 19 include their videos for the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibitions of 2005 and 2006, and rather more ambitiously the film The Full Monteverdi - a must see for fans of renaissance polyphony. Such people do exist, and I'm one of them!

To Christ Church Spitalfields last night for 'Alchemy', a joint concert by London's Renaissance Singers and Amsterdam's Lelikoor.

This was my first visit to this venue and its warm and embracing acoustic. The two performances of my favourite work, Tallis's Spem in Alium, washed over the audience and moved more than one person to tears.

If you don't know Tallis's awesome 40-part motet, have a listen to the Tallis Scholars' performance below (sound starts after 13 seconds - enjoy the silence):

It is a truly awesome work, and very demanding of the singers and conductor. Last night's performance was just about flawless.  I've heard Spem performed in all sorts of places, from St Paul's Covent Garden, to the Royal Albert Hall (twice). Splitting the eight choirs creatively between the floor and gallery levels of Christ Church Spitalfield allowed a natural 'call and answer' between the choirs and was certainly the most rounded performance I've heard to date.

If you would like to get together with thirty-nine prodigiously talented musical friends, you can find the full score here.

Other works included the lyrical Myn hert altyt heeft verlanghen by Pierre de la Rue, Britten's Chorale on an old French carol and Rober Parsons' Te Deum from "The Great Service" - all new to me, all performed with a purity of tone and clarity of diction that is quite special.

Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir brought us up to date, and was the cornerstone of the second half of the evening.  Though it didn't reach me to the same extent that some of the other pieces managed, it was fascinating to hear an unconvential, dare I say downbeat, interpretation of Mass.  The programme notes (which were also excellent) say that

"The opening of the Gloria speaks more of hushed awe than blazing glory"

I would share that assessment, and it was certainly interesting to have my expectations of the Gloria and Sanctus challenged.

In short, a concert worth every penny. You'd be mad to miss the Renaissance Singers' next concert on Sunday 12 October at the Temple Church, featuring Allegri's Miserere.

To the South Bank today with a recovering byelection warrior, for the Richard Rogers exhibition at the Design Museum. Very enjoyable if you're a fan of international architecture - it includes a fascinating model of how London might have looked if, instead of the London Eye, a giant strucure had been built in the Thames itself.

Browsing Conservative Home today I find an innocuous enough blog post showing the shortlist for a Conservative parliamentary selection.

It's a reminder of something I unfortunately failed to do with Lib Dem Voice -  to reduce the secrecy surrounding the candidate selection process.  My early attempts faced a strong backlash, not from the party hierarchy, but from the readers of Lib Dem Voice themselves who felt I was going too far too fast.

Some of the post-Henley debate is centering on the choice of a not-particularly-local candidate. I'd be interested to see if there is a greater appetite for candidate selection transparency now.

Candidate selection in England, in and out of byelections, has been a constantly thorny topic for the party, and there are many who think the time has come for root and  branch reform.

To quote Mayor Boris Johnson on the installation of fans on the London Underground, I was "chuffed to bits" to be invited to the launch of Total Politics magazine last night.

Hats off to publisher Iain Dale who battled illness to deliver a warmly received and witty speech. I particularly enjoyed his praise of one of the magazine's PR companies - "Olly Kendall of Insight Public Affairs tells us that had we paid ad rates for the media coverage we've had, it would have cost £30,000... He'll be after his fee, then." The coverage on the blogs has also been extensive, I'm sure they've earned that fee.

Having got a bit merry on the free champagne I somehow missed the piles of complimentary copies on the way out (and the opportunity to own a Total Politics jute bag... damn!) and so bought a copy in WH Smith on the way home tonight.  I largely agree with Mike Smithson's review, and have to confess I found myself skimming rather than reading. In all honesty I enjoyed the piece advising sharp-suited young politicos where to get those sharp suits the most - what that says about me, I don't know.

It's an exciting development however, and I'm sure it will go from strength to strength. Iain's previous venture, 18 Doughty Street, was wide open to the charge that it was 'Tory TV' - Total Politics appears to have lived up to its politically neutral mantra in the first edition, though a doting reference to Thatcher in the editor's intro did make me balk a little.

It's hard to imagine the internet without mapping tools these days - I use them all the time to find meeting venues, bars (!) and recently had to rely on Google Maps on my iPhone to get me to a TV interview on time when I was hopelessly lost in central london.

When Google Maps added satellite imagery to their maps, it was a huge breakthrough - whereas previously you may have paid £30 or £40 for a print of an aerial view, Google Earth lays the world out before you for free.

This has many uses, but it struck me when I was out enjoying one of my hobbies - walking the footpaths around the village where I live - that Google Earth would allow me to quickly tackle a problem we have around here.  I've encountered a lot of obstructed footpaths, and sure enough when I was out walking today I found a new farm gate chained shut.

A few quick clicks with Google Earth later, and I can send the local council not only the name of the farm, but a pinpoint location of the obstruction, for the avoidance of all doubt.