Who will get the gay vote?
It was LGB hustings night, as organised by Village Drinks, at the King's Fund, in support of Stonewall, so it seemed like a good idea to go along. Except, disaster, there was a cash bar. No party conference warm white wine here. So Paul headed off to find a cash machine. Problem solved. I suppose in the current economic climate you can't expect a freebie!
The hustings were chaired by Ben Summerskill, who did an excellent job, happily bringing each of the elected politicians in to line with jokes about their expenses. I say each of the elected politicians, because there was a late addition from the Green Party, a local candidate from East London on his first foray into national politics. And given the circumstances, I think he did well.
Chris Bryant MP kicked off for the Labour Party. He avoided the usual litany of Labour achievements related to LGB rights, and instead focused on the challenges: tackling homophobic bullying in school, combating hate related violence and persuading EU states to recognise UK civil partnerships. Moving on to say that "the days when people voted according to their sexual preference are gone", he stated that he thought the key issue in election, whether gay or straight, was the economy.
Lynne Featherstone MP came next for the Liberal Democrats. Having been chided by Ben Summerskill for the two pasta ready meals she claimed on expenses back in 2007 (she claims they were dinner for a researcher) she set out a strong case for her party, saying they were "liberal through and through, and not just at elections" and that at the heart of their policies was the idea that "no-one shall be enslaved by conformity". As their lead for equalities issues, she clearly had a strong grasp on her portfolio, tackling a wide range of issues including transphobia, gender identity and the ban on gay men giving blood. She took a little while to get round to talking about the economy, but her description of Vince 'Walk On Water' Cable raised a laugh in the room.
Nick Herbert MP was up next for the Conservatives. His opening gambit was about his own civil partnership, which was held in the register office at Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton, as he said with "plastic flowers in the room and dog shit on the pavement." And he went on to talk at length, and with some passion, about the changes in the Conservative Party. He had some interesting observations, saying that if the Tories win with a majority of just one, they would have more openly gay politicians in Parliament than any other party. He talked about an aspiration that all political parties should be a safe place for a gay vote, and hoped that there would be genuine bi-partisan consensus. And on the subject of homophobic bullying, he made a call for "leadership not law."
And finally, our only unelected politician, Chris Smith who is standing for the Greens in Tower Hamlets. Surprisingly, he touched only briefly on the the Greens' strong LGBT manifesto, and instead focused on broader green concerns, around the environment, consumerism, living standards and housing.
So that was the opening gambits over and done with. Questions at hustings are always more interesting though, as they get the politicians off the script and more off the cuff. The stand out exchange of the evening came between Chris Bryant and Ben Summerskill, in response to an audience question about the role of Rupert Murdoch.
Chris Bryant: Some time I ago, I met Rupert Murdoch, and I have to say he is the most casually violent person I've ever met.
Ben Summerskill: Even more than Gordon Brown?
[laughter from the audience]
Chris Bryant: If you think there's anything casual about Gordon's violence, you really know nothing.
So, what did I learn from the evening. I'd gone in to the event thinking seriously about voting Green, but Chris Smith's comment about Peter Tatchell being on the right wing of the party has made me think twice about their economics. Chris Bryant seemed tetchy and humourless for much of the evening, and seemed genuinely disappointed that his attempts at Tory bashing were falling on largely deaf ears in the room. Lynne Featherstone seemed lovely, and someone you'd definitely want to share a bottle of wine with. But the real surprise of the evening was Nick Herbert. While by no means a heart on his sleeve gay activist, he was engaging, passionate and well informed. And yet, I'm left with a nagging fear that all the talk of the Conservatives having changed might come to nothing.
I'm entering this election as a floating but engaged voter. I want my vote to count for something, but this evening has left me no clearer about where my vote should go. Ben Summerskill closed the evening by saying that he was waiting for the manifestos, which he would read in private, and vote accordingly. I think that might just be a wise move.
London Transport Museum: Acton Town Depot
Photos from a trip to the fantastic Acton Town Depot of the London Transport Museum.
Festive puddings
As promised to my sister, here are two options if you don't fancy Christmas pudding. We had both on the big day, and both are still going. Actually, the Christmas pudding icecream is so rich I suspect it will still be in the freezer in March, being consumed one teaspoon at a time.
I'm not an accurate cook (I actually don't own kitchen scales) so everything is fairly approximate.
Mulled wine jelly
Mulled wine jelly started with good mulled wine. We had friends round the Sunday before Christmas and I think I made something approaching twelve litres of the stuff before we finished. My mulled wine started off with
- A box of red wine (one of the three litre boxes)
- A small bottle of brandy (it all went in - in retrospect that may have been a mistake - wow!)
- An orange studded with cloves
- Two more oranges and two lemons roughly sliced
- Some sugar
- Some allspice
- and some cinnamon
By the time we got to the end of the mulled wine it was a lot more red wine than brandy and the fruit had been simmering away for a good four or five hours. Anyhow, to make the mulled wine jelly I took just over a pint of the cooled mulled wine, mixed with about the same quantity of orange juice, added some sugar to taste - the wine had got very clovey by this stage and it needed counteracting - and then warmed it all gently in a pan. I added twelve sheets of already soaked gelatine, stirred until it was dissolved and then poured into a big glass dish. It took about four hours to set in the fridge.
Christmas pudding icecream
Even without an icecream maker, this was possibly the easiest and richest pudding I've ever made. It was actually far too rich the way I made it, so if I were making it again, it would contain
- A small tub of single cream
- A larger tub of ready made custard (about twice as big)
- A quarter of a large luxury Christmas pudding
- Some nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar
- A big glug of Baileys
I started by cooking the Christmas pudding. It was ready made and just popped in the microwave. When I made the icecream first time round, I used about half the pudding but really it was too much. A quarter would have been fine. Once it had cooled down, I crumbled it and set it to one side. The cream was whipped and folded into the custard and then the Christmas pudding, spices and sugar were mixed in. Finally I added big glug of Baileys and stirred.
It all went into the freezer, mixed up with a fork about four hours later than back in the freezer until completely solid. It needed to come out about 20 minutes before serving to be soft enough to serve.
My first outing as an agony aunt
Absolutely delighted that a piece of advice written by me has appeared in today's London Paper in the Heart Surgery section. It's sadly not published on their website, but here's what it said.
Q I came out as a lesbian to myself and my friends last year and am just getting used to it. I've been dating a girl for a month and she's dropping hints that we should spend more time together. It's too soon for me to get serious - how do I let her down gently? Anon
My reader's reply was the first published. Strangely like commenting on a blog but actually appearing in print, which is satisfying.
A One of the great things about coming out is the rush of emotions, like puberty all over again but without the spots! There's no hurry to settle down. Be honest with yourself that you're happier enjoying the "teenage" rollercoaster for now, and tell her how you feel. Andy
It's not the best thing I've ever written. Wildly swinging metaphors, gratuitous punctuation and lack of pace. But published with my name at the end.
Counting down the hours til I’m tache-less
I've met a lot of new people in September, and I've found myself starting conversations with the words "I don't usually look like this..." Partly, I want people to know I don't normally look like a 70s porn star reject and partly, I want to plant the seed of them being able to recognise me when they meet me, not during September, and I don't have a moustache! I'm not sure it's a look I'd want to maintain the long term. I also can't stop playing with it, stroking it in a contemplative fashion that makes me look, well, a bit bonkers.
A surprise upside of growing my top lip has been a new a Remington grooming kit. It's been really handy throughout the month. My top lip hair does not grow universally straight and neat, so being able to tidy up the edges has helped me maintain an air of manicured (faci-cured?) orderliness. I've mostly used the medium width trimmer, but the Remington comes with other interchangeable bits too. There's even one for dealing with nose and ear hair... yum... though it's a tad vicious and pulled out a piece of hair, prompting lots of eye watering! Still, I suppose that's better than my former grooming machine, which seemed to totally give up at the sight of a thicker than normal hair, and frequently ran out of juice midway through a trim. It's got a neat little charger and a places to store all the bits, and has pride of place on my bedside table.
All in all though, I can't wait til Wednesday morning when the tache can come off. My tache has raised £75, and I'm currently ranked at number 297 (ah well, can't win them all) so I feel like I've done my bit for tacheback. I also have a list of people to email on Wednesday morning who've promised to sponsor me to shave the tache off, so I should be able to push my total up a little higher.
The only thing I have to decide is what to do next. Growing a moustache has the same kind of facial impact as shaving off an eyebrow. It's one thing to be cleanly shaven, even to have all over stubble, but it takes a kind of strange persistence to grow hair on just one part of your face. Still, I suppose with my new clippers, my face is my oyster.
Big pile of presents
It's Ben's ninth birthday on Monday, so I'm off to spend the day with him, carrying a big bag of presents. As I can be fairly safe in the knowledge he's not going to read this, I can reveal that he's getting two Nintendo games, a make-your-own-radio kit, Truckers by Terry Pratchett, and a word game called Upwords. As far as I can work out it's piled up version of Scrabble.
Paul said it looked like a good pile of presents for a 9 year old. I think it looks like a good pile, whatever your age! Birthday presents seem to reach a peak size towards the end of childhood, start to tail off as a teenager, and then largely disappear as an adult. I suppose as you buy more stuff for yourself - books, music, clothes, toys - your significant others buy them less. Today's tshirt is a good example. I bought it for myself yesterday, but it would have made a great present. Still, I didn't want to wait until Christmas!
The pox
There's an outbreak of chicken pox at work. People are disappearing for a week at home covering themselves in calamine lotion. And everyone is unaccountably itchy and paranoid about every sniff and cough, even if they are perfectly well.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I remain unaffected. My mother had enough foresight to send me off to play with every other sick child on our street when I was small, so I'd got through most of the childhood diseases by the time I was 7. Pox parties seem less common now which I think is a shame. My mother was of the opinion that, given the potentially terrible consequences particularly of mumps in adult men, it was better to get everything over and done with as early as possible. I'm sure it must have been a real chore for her to put up with an ill little boy - I complain now when I feel sick so have no reason to believe I wasn't hard work as a child - but I'm very grateful. It should mean, I hope, that I still have the chicken pox antibodies and won't get ill now. Fingers crossed.