好色先生TV

Does Gordon get it?

Jack Pringle has taken to the internet to pass his verdict on Tony Blair. The RIBA president鈥檚 blog gives the prime minister the thumbs-up for setting up his Better Public 好色先生TVs initiative and Cabe, but he loses marks over 鈥渢he dreaded Dome鈥� and 鈥渢he design disaster that PFI has been鈥�. Looking ahead, Pringle isn鈥檛 sure whether or not Gordon Brown 鈥済ets鈥� architecture. As for some of the rising stars in the next government, such as Yvette Cooper, he says: 鈥淲e know they certainly do.鈥� Does that mean we can look forward to a glorious Brownian future of architect-led eco towns?

A more hands-on role

Blair鈥檚 wasn鈥檛 the only high-profile resignation last week. It is with great regret that I have to inform you that Andy Link, the Bovis representative on 好色先生TV鈥檚 graduate advisory board, has handed in his notice to his employer. Link will be joining the martial arts body, British Taekwondo, to become its full-time operations director. He will take up the reins at the body to lead it to the Beijing Olympics and the London Games in 2012. We鈥檒l be sorry to see him leave our grad ad panel, too.

Hammered

Upton Park, home of West Ham United, was the venue for an eight-a-side celebrity football tournament featuring construction group Apollo on Friday night. And true to the spirit of slightly controversial signings that has followed the Hammers of late, Apollo鈥檚 idea of celebrity somehow included recruiting 好色先生TV executive editor Tom Broughton. Still the Apollo team worked like a well-oiled machine, skipping past teams that included the likes of actor Ray Winstone and TV gardener Tommy Walsh, before sadly grinding to a halt in the final, which they lost 1-0 to an insurance company (after a dodgy penalty decision).

The dice men

Mysteriously conflicting stories are circulating regarding the creative origins of the eponymous blue fins on Allies & Morrison鈥檚 Blue Fin building in Southwark, south London. The client, Land Securities, told us last year that Bob and Graham used a complicated state-of-the-art computer programme to get every single one of them positioned just so. Word on the architects grapevine however points to a rather less scientific method 鈥� that they threw a dice hundreds of times to achieve the random effect. Who鈥檚 more likely to know the truth?

Such youthful promise

How times change. Here鈥檚 a picture of Tony Blair the last time 好色先生TV interviewed him, back in 1990. Compare the unfeasible tightness of the PM鈥檚 trousers and the quality of his furniture with the well tailored chap Margaret Ford met in the sybaritic surroundings of the House of Lords (see page 28). And it鈥檚 not just the trousers that are dodgy. On the subject of health and safety Blair told interviewer John Woodhouse, chairman of Haymills: 鈥淵ou need a health and safety inspectorate that is able to do the job properly. I think the inspectorate suffers from under-resourcing鈥�. Some comfort I鈥檓 sure for the 10% of the Health and Safety Executive鈥檚 workforce whose jobs are about to be cut.

Slightly more than 28 weeks later ...

The new Wembley stadium has a starring role at the climax of horror sequel 28 Weeks Later as a sanctuary for hordes of marauding zombies. Enter your own ironic comment here. Though it must be great for Wembley National Stadium Limited to have its new asset feature so prominently, it is curious that none of the characters refer to it as anything other than 鈥渢he stadium鈥�. It couldn鈥檛 be that the producers weren't confident it would be finished in time for the final scenes to be shot, could it?