So the Brits really did do as well as we hoped they would.  Maybe the rain was a good omen!

Congratulations, especially, to Daniel Day Lewis.  I went to see the film, There will be blood, on Sunday.  Hardly a laugh a minute but certainly worth every penny of the ticket price.  A gripping film - so much so it almost stopped me noticing the mouse that was scuttling across the floor of the cinema.  I will not name the cinema but suffice to say I am in touch with the local authority...

Campaigning on behalf of Andy Jennings, the Conservative GLA candidate, and Boris Johnson yesterday, I was struck by the difference the plans for the Lido in Charlton Park Lane in Hornfair Park will make.

Andy and his fellow ward councillor, Graeme Coombes, along with local residents and users of the facility, have succeeded in a campaign not only to save the lido but to vastly imprve the facilities on offer.  It's disgraceful that women cannot currently use the changing facilities as they are structurally unsafe.

I look forward to seeing the lido restored to its original glory and enjoying the grounds without the fear I'm going to see a burnt out car dumped among the roses.  It just proves that when a community works togetehr things can be improved.

The Government's handling of Northern National Rock has been nothing short of a disgrace.  Shares worth £12 a few months ago are now likely to net small investers as little as 5p.  Meanwhile, you and me are shelling out thousands of pounds to bail out a bank which should never have been allowed to get into so much strife.

By dithering, again, the Prime Minister and his Chancellor have cost taxpayers billions of pounds and damaged the City's international reputation.  So when Northern Rock mortgage customers get into trouble with their repayments, it will be the Government that starts reposessing their homes.  And with 'real' inflation (rather than the ridiculously misleading 'headline' inflation) eating huge chunks into people's incomes it won't be long now.  I fear for those who are on very tight budgets.

I was delighted to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury very briefly on Christmas Eve last year when I was fortunate to be invited to worship at the Cathedral.  He seems a genuine and well meaning man.

However, he has, at the very least, been ill advised or naive to think his speech was appropriate.  Though he was accurate in part - there are Jewish Orthodox courts (which mainly handle issues of food preparation) and mortgages for Muslims which get round the fact they are prohibited by their faith from borrowing money - much of what he said was ridiculous.

His comment that we can only achieve community cohesion and development if we adopt elements of Islamic Sharia law are absurd.

Immigrants to this country come here for a better life, whether to escape persecution or to seek a better living.  Providing the rules are abided by immigration can be very beneficial to this country, but this is not the issue here.  What is at issue is the age old belief that British subjects abide by the general rule of the land.  In the same way I do not believe a millionnaire should be treated differently to an unemployed person if they are caught driving dangerously, nor do I believe a Muslim should be treated any betetr (or worse) than a Christian or a non believer.

Quite simply, things have gone too far.  If there is a threat to social cohesion it is people seeking to change the very fabric of this country and the culture of fairness and acceptance which presumably makes it such a desirable place to settle.  I think the Archbishop has some serious issues within hsi own church which should take the bulk of his time from now on.