Dominic Wightman: Mountbatten Victory
Published in UK
Lord Mountbatten: A Forgotten Statue
Following a campaign by the Westminster Journal and the celebrated photographer Allan Warren (including the interview below and missives to Number 10, the Deputy Prime Minister & the Royal Parks Commission) to have a plaque added to Lord Mountbatten's statue in Whitehall, Westminster, agreement was reached for a new plaque which will be in place by the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Dominic Wightman Interviews the celebrated photographer Allan Warren
Dominic Wightman: How did you meet Earl Mountbatten of Burma?
A.W.
I first met Lord Mountbatten, when he sat for my first book entitled NOBS & Nosh. I was in my early twenties and lived in the same street, Kinnerton Street near Hyde Park Corner. We did the photo shoot at his mews house with him in an armchair, resting his hand on a bust of Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. For the launch of the book I held a party at my house for several hundred guests and members of the press. Lord Louis was guest of honour. Even Gloria Swanson flew in from New York just to meet him.
Yamaha FXHO by Dominic Wightman
Published in Sports
With a new engine and more gadgets than you can shake a stick at, the Yamaha Cruiser FX High Output is looking tempting. Spicer rides the cruising craft with charisma.
For 2009 the Cruiser FX HO has received more than a simple repackaging. On the surface, it may only look like a lick of silver paint, but this an altogether different animal - packed with gizmos. Yes, it is still a cruising craft but now it’s even more about the FX. Pulling together Yamaha’s arsenal of technical features from recent years, this PW is bristling with reasons to ride it. So let’s get involved.
Hunkering back into the lumbar support, I grab the bars and blip-blip the lanyard into place.
Slowly exiting the marina, I decide to try out the FX HO’s no wake mode. With this, it is literally just a push of a button and off you go, with no need to hold the throttle lever. It regulates RPMs for the optimal speed (approximately five miles per hour) to navigate through no-wake zones such as this. It is a very nice touch thatmakes the boring bit of riding through slow areas far more enjoyable, because you don’t have to constantly regulate your speed. And actually the no wake mode feels faster than you would normally allow yourself to ride in these areas. So I am double smug.
On Strathclyde Anoraks
Published in UK
In Britain the far left is tiny. Like the British far right and the extreme Islamist movement, it has no chance of establishing itself in the critical mass that is Middle England and Britain’s sagacious first-past-the-post governmental system thus ensures it remains where it belongs - in the political wilderness / on the political fruit farm.
Occasionally you hear public huffs and puffs from far lefties. Since these days they are short of comrades and find it uphill rustling up a decent crowd by themselves, they usually congregate in some kind of unholy alliance (the Black Red Alliance, Islamist-Leftist compact is a well known one) in which they rant and bluster and, as we’ve seen recently, are still prone to violence.