Police pull disabled journalist Jody McIntyre out of his wheelchair and drag him along the road

In Jody's own words:

"Somehow, me and Finlay managed to weave our way through the police line. We found ourselves in a large no-mans-land, in between the riot police trying to stop the crowd, and the police horses getting ready to charge. I turned in my wheelchair to face the police. "Move out of the way!" one of the mounted police shouted at me. I shook my head.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted one of the policemen from the earlier incident. He recognised me immediately. Officer KF936 came charging towards me. Tipping the wheelchair to the side, he pushed me onto the concrete, before grabbing my arms and dragging me across the road. The crowd of 200 ran and surrounded him."

Check out Jody's blog Life on Wheels.

Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You for Christmas. Sort of.

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As previously reported, BBC2 are showing a new M R James ghost story adaptation this Christmas Eve at 21.00. Whistle And I'll Come To You is a BBC Drama Production and has been adapted by Neil Cross from the original story Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You, My Lad.

 John Hurt, plays Parkin (sic), the protagonist of the story and says of this production:

"'Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You, My Lad' is M R James' most famous ghost story and I'm thrilled to be involved in this contemporary re- working of it, particularly as I've never done a ghost story before and I love to have new territory to walk. It's also a great pleasure to be working with the BBC again."

 Unlike the BBC's previous M R James adaptations, including their previous adaptation of the same story, this version is a modern adaptation of the James original and will apparently be "a cinematic, moody, poignant and unsettling spooky addition to the Christmas schedules, taking its lead from L'Orfanto, The Shining and Japanese horror movies" as well as adding a "terrifying psychological twist in the tale". Gemma Jones plays Parkin's wife and Lesley Sharp plays "Hetty the nurse", (both of whom seem to be new characters as they don't appear in James's original story) and Andy de Emmony is the director.

 Just how well this tinkering will go down with M R James fans remains to be seen, and will no doubt depend in large part on how sensitively James's source material is treated. Personally I'm delighted to have an M R James story back in the BBC's Christmas schedule, but have my fingers crossed that they won't have ruined the tale in its "updating"...

[Updated] Arnold Schwarzenegger called David Cameron to 'congratulate him'

Just called @davidcameron to congratulate him on the victory. Even though results aren't in we know the Conservatives had a great dayThu May 06 21:19:50 via TweetieGov. Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger

Updated: It's been pointed out that @Schwarzenegger seemed to think that @davidcameron (account now shut down!) was the David Cameron who leads the Conservative Party in the UK. It wasn't.

Emma Watson at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2010 Costume Institute Ball

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2010 Costume Institute Ball was held on Monday 3 May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  Emma Watson attended in a custom-made, one-shouldered, flowing white Burberry dress and was accompanied by Christopher Bailey, the Chief Creative Officer of Burberry.

 
 

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